A drill involving the use of tour buses on east coast routes served by Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) trains was held yesterday at Hualien Railway Station as part of a contingency plan to tackle an upcoming strike by TRA employees on Workers’ Day on Sunday.
The drill simulated a scenario in which passengers who found there were no TRA train services at Hualien station sought help from the service counter and used e-tickets to switch to highway buses and tour buses arranged by the Directorate-General of Highways (DGH).
TRA Chief Secretary Chen Yu-mou (陳裕謀) told reporters that the TRA had coordinated with the DGH’s Hualien Motor Vehicle Office to provide extra bus services, called “quasi-trains,” on the non-stop route between Hualien and Taitung railway stations, and another route between the two stations with 10 stops: Jian, Shoufong, Fonglin, Guangfu, Rueisuei, Yuli and Fuli in Hualien County, and Chishang, Guanshan and Luye in Taitung County.
Photo: CNA
TRA Director-General Du Wei (杜微) on Sunday confirmed that railway services would be suspended across the nation on Sunday due to a strike by members of the Taiwan Railway Labor Union to try to get the government to recall a draft bill to corporatize the railway agency.
The TRA’s booking system for train services on Sunday has been suspended and about 10,000 of about 17,000 tickets purchased for trains that day have been refunded, Chen said.
The TRA estimated that about 10,000 people would take “quasi-trains” on the east coast that day.
Photo courtesy of TRA
Photo courtesy of TRA
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
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The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
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