The Taichung MRT’s automated trains would now have their emergency driver panels left open at all times, so that they can be accessed immediately by train attendants in the event of an emergency, the company said yesterday.
The new policy was announced days after a crane boom fell from a building onto the MRT line near Feng-le Park Station, only to be struck 41 seconds later by an oncoming train, killing one person and injuring 10.
In a hearing yesterday at the Taichung City Council, Taichung Mass Rapid Transit Corp president Chuang Ming-tsung (莊明聰) said that the company had not considered the possibility of a foreign object “falling from the sky” in its risk assessments.
Photo: CNA
“In principle, the track area is supposed to be absolutely clear,” Chuang said, adding that nothing like last Thursday’s accident had ever happened on the Taipei MRT’s driverless Wenhu Line in its 27 years of operation.
Chuang said the Taichung MRT’s standard policy had been to only leave the driver panels on its trains open when winds reached seven on the Beaufort scale (50kph to 61kph), so that attendants could stop the train more easily if something, such as a signboard, blew onto the tracks.
However, as of yesterday the company has begun keeping the emergency driver panels open at all times, he said.
The company has faced criticism that the accident could have been averted with better emergency planning.
Specifically, critics have drawn attention to released surveillance footage that showed a station security guard noticing the fallen crane boom, but being unable to stop the train as its doors close and it begins to accelerate.
In another portion of the video, an attendant at the front of the train can be seen rifling through her bag, apparently searching for the key to the driver panel, for several seconds before the collision.
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