The legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday voted nine to five to grant preliminary approval to a draft statute establishing a state-run Taiwan Railway Corp.
The government is proposing transitioning the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) from an agency to a state-run corporation after major express train derailments in 2018 and last year exposed structural problems within the agency that have compromised safety.
The committee considered a version of the draft statute proposed by the Taiwan Railway Labor Union, the largest union in the agency, in addition to the government’s draft. The committee agreed to 16 of the 23 articles in the union’s proposal following a four-hour deliberation yesterday morning.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The seven remaining articles are to be settled through negotiations with opposition lawmakers, after which the statute is to be put to a final vote at a plenary session.
Those articles involve clearing the TRA’s short-term debts, protecting employee benefits and securing funding for early retirement packages.
Opposition lawmakers tried to stop committee deliberations through a series of procedural questions. When that failed, they tried to halt a final vote at the plenary session.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Hsueh-sheng (陳雪生) said the committee should give the Ministry of Transportation and Communications more time to negotiate unresolved articles with the union so that the committee could submit a draft statute unopposed by the union to the plenary session for final approval, Chen said.
Lawmakers also proposed five motions to change the wording in some of the articles, KMT Legislator Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said.
“Must the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) insist on moving the draft statute out of the committee given all the unsettled issues?” Hung asked.
The ministry should consolidate different proposals, and the committee should schedule another meeting to review these remaining articles, he said.
DPP Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲), who presided over yesterday’s committee meeting, put the bill to a vote to break the legislative gridlock.
Of the 14 legislators who appeared at the committee, nine voted to grant preliminary approval to the draft statute.
Wang told the committee that the ministry had in 2003 attempted to negotiate with the union about corporatizing the TRA.
“It is almost impossible to reach a consensus with the union, which has 15 branches across the country,” he said, adding that the TRA has two other unions to negotiate with.
The ministry said that it would meet the union’s demand to establish a budget to resolve the TRA’s short-term debts. The revenues are to come from TRA property revenues and government budgets, among other sources.
Leasing TRA properties would only pay for the interest on the debts, Wang said.
The ministry also agreed to highlight operational safety in Article 2 of the draft statute, which states that the railway operator should thoroughly follow regulations to ensure safe train operation.
Separately, Wang said that the ministry would announce a plan today to handle travelers on International Workers’ Day long weekend, adding it would use high-speed rail trains as well as freeway, highway, city and tour buses.
“We will ask people not to take TRA trains if the workers insist on taking May 1 off. We will also ensure that trains operating on that day are safe to take,” he said.
About 12,000 TRA workers said they would not work on May 1, including 90 percent of train drivers, the TRA said.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon this morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan between Friday and Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The storm, which as of 8am was still 1,100km southeast of southern Taiwan, is currently expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, the CWA said. Because of its rapid speed — 28kph as of 8am — a sea warning for the storm could be issued tonight, rather than tomorrow, as previously forecast, the CWA said. In terms of its impact, Usagi is to bring scattered or
An orange gas cloud that leaked from a waste management plant yesterday morning in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) was likely caused by acidic waste, authorities said, adding that it posed no immediate harm. The leak occurred at a plant in the district’s Environmental Science and Technology Park at about 7am, the Taoyuan Fire Department said. Firefighters discovered a cloud of unidentified orange gas leaking from a waste tank when they arrived on the site, it said, adding that they put on Level A chemical protection before entering the building. After finding there was no continuous leak, the department worked with the city’s Department
RSS