The Taiwan Railways Administration plans to ask Hyundai Rotem to address a “craftsmanship flaw” in doors of EMU900 commuter trains, after they opened on their own several times over the past year, the agency said yesterday.
To replace its aging fleet, the nation’s largest railway operator spent NT$25.3 billion (US$909.09 million at the current exchange rate) on 520 EMU900 carriages from the South Korean rolling stock manufacturer. An EMU900-series train consists of 10 carriages.
Sixteen EMU900 trains have been delivered, of which 15 have been in operation since April last year. The agency is still testing one EMU900 train.
Photo: Chen Hsin-yu, Taipei Times
Problems with the EMU900 trains have been reported in the past 11 months.
On Sunday, three doors of an EMU900, train No. 1235, malfunctioned during operation. On Jan. 1, doors on another EMU900 train were unable to open normally. On Dec. 13 last year, train No. 1292 had malfunctioning carriage doors.
Agency officials said that they were concerned that a manufacturing flaw might only be the tip of the iceberg regarding problems with the model.
The agency said that its preliminary judgement was that the doors might have been installed improperly.
The installations were slanted, it said, adding that when a motor in an anti-pinch device at a door registers a large electrical current, it incorrectly opens the door.
The agency is to meet with Hyundai Rotem this week to discuss a comprehensive adjustment of all EMU900 trains, the agency said, adding that it has yet to fully accept the trains from the manufacturer.
The flaw should be corrected according to terms of the contract, and the manufacturer must correct problems with the trains, the agency said.
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS