Final investigative reports on the Puyuma Express derailment on Oct. 21, 2018, and the collapse of Yilan County’s Nanfangao Bridge (南方澳橋) on Oct. 1 last year would be made public this month, Taiwan Transportation Safety Board Chairman Young Hong-tsu (楊宏智) told a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday.
Young was scheduled to brief the lawmakers on the measures that the board has put in place to improve the quality of investigations into transportation accidents.
However, lawmakers during a question-and-answer session pressed the board to announce specific timelines for releasing final investigative reports on the two accidents.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said that it has been almost two years since the deadly train derailment occurred.
Families of victims have said that the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) has been urging them to settle for the compensation it offers, even though the board has yet to release a final report on the accident, he said.
“You have previously said that the report would be released before the end of September. Now we are on the last day of September and we have seen nothing. Is this one of your stalling tactics?” Hung said, asking if the report would be made public before Oct. 21.
Although the construction of a new Nanfangao Bridge is to begin on Monday next week, which would be an important milestone, people have yet to see a report into the reasons that led to the collapse of the old bridge, Hung said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) said the investigation into the derailment would be the first step that the board has to take to build its credibility, adding that he hopes that the report would be recognized by the public.
He asked whether the board delayed the release of the report due to personnel shortage.
Young said that the board has been cautious about releasing the report on the derailment, adding that it is hastening to complete the procedures to publish the report.
“Board members on Sept. 2 approved the final draft of the report, and we have sent the approved draft to all parties involved in this accident and gave them 30 days to respond, including the TRA, the Railway Bureau and the Japanese manufacturer of the express train,” Young said, adding that the report should be released some time before Oct. 21.
As for the report on the bridge collapse, Young said that the board was set to finalize a draft of the report in a meeting yesterday afternoon.
The board would also deliver the approved draft to all parties involved in this case, who would also be given 30 days to respond, he said.
“We would ask them to try responding within 15 days if possible,” he added.
Young said that the board could not deliver the report on the bridge collapse sooner due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a shortage of investigators for highway and freeway accidents.
“The bridge was designed by a French company, which has an office in Hong Kong. Although the company has agreed to help with the investigation by sending representatives to Taiwan and answering questions from the board directly, the pandemic has prevented them from coming. As such, we can talk through videoconferencing,” he said.
“We only have four investigators for highway accidents, but we would need 11 to handle the workload,” Young said.
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