A New Taipei City high-school student rescued a 76-year-old woman who fell onto the train tracks at Banciao Station on Saturday.
The 18-year-old Municipal Yong-Ping High School student, surnamed Lee (李), on Monday spoke to reporters about the incident.
The school’s principal and a guidance counselor attended the news conference with Lee.
Photo: Tung Kuan-yi, Taipei Times
Lee said that he and a friend were eating breakfast as they were waiting for a train at about 8am on Saturday when they heard people shouting from the end of the platform that someone had fallen onto the tracks.
The lights signaling that a train was approaching were flashing, he said.
“If the lights weren’t flashing, I would have called a station worker, but the train was coming, so I was worried that there would be no time for that,” he said.
Lee said that he saw a row of pillars between the northbound and southbound tracks and jumped down to help the woman.
He lifted the woman and carried her between the two sets of tracks while shouting for his friend to get help, he said.
Lee said he tried to speak to the woman to calm her down, but she was too panicked to reply.
A station worker arrived, but as the train was already nearing the station, he told them to wait where they were until it came to a stop, he said.
Once the train stopped, the station worker helped them back onto the platform, where the woman was treated for minor leg injuries, he said.
Lee said he called his parents to let them know what had happened and that he was fine.
His mother and father were alarmed, but ultimately trusted his judgement, while his grandmother praised him for his bravery, he said.
Shen Mei-hua (沈美華), the school’s principal, also expressed concern for Lee’s safety, but said she understood after speaking to him that he had clearly thought through what he was doing.
The school is planning to issue Lee an award for his actions, Shen said.
Taiwan Railway Corp said that in situations where a person has fallen onto the tracks, a station worker should be notified immediately and people should not put themselves in danger by leaping after them.
It is also evaluating a plan to install automatic doors on station platforms — similar to those on Taiwan’s MRT systems — although that would be a complicated endeavor, as they would need to cater for the different train types that use its stations, Taiwan Railway said.
A trial program for platform doors would be run at Kaohsiung Main Station in the second half of this year, it said.
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