Lawmakers at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday passed a motion to freeze ticket price hikes for train services to the east coast until Hualien County fully recovers from the devastating earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale last month.
The committee was scheduled to review Taiwan Railway Corp’s (TRC) planned increase in ticket prices, which have not been adjusted for nearly 30 years.
The price increase would range from 35.62 to 44.52 percent for a reasonable return on investment of between 3 and 5 percent, the TRC said in a report it submitted to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
Photo: Tsai Yun-jung, Taipei Times
The ministry asked the railway operator to submit more detailed analyses of the data and said it would resume further discussions in the second half of this year.
The motion was proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Huang Chien-pin (黃建賓), who represents constituencies in Taitung County.
Residents on the east coast depend heavily on the railway system, which has many problems, Huang said in the Transportation Committee meeting, adding that it would be unfair to east coast residents if prices are raised before these problems are resolved.
The TRC’s plan to raise the price came at a bad time, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Lin Kuo-cheng (林國成) said.
“The Tourism Administration has rolled out plans to boost tourism in Hualien, while the TRC wants to raise the ticket prices. They should take the disasters in Hualien and Taitung caused by the earthquakes into account and not raise the ticket prices for now,” Lin said.
Special subsidies should be given to residents of Hualien and Taitung Counties affected by the earthquake when they use the railway system, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) said, adding that this would give the TRC some room to adjust the pricing scheme.
The quality and capacity of train services to the east coast have been enhanced, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Allen Hu (胡湘麟) said, but agreed with the motion to freeze the price hike for east coast residents.
In other news, to boost local tourism after the earthquake, Taiwan International Ports Corp said it would waive passenger service fees and port area cleaning and maintenance fees for international cruise ships docking at the Port of Hualien from April 25 to Dec. 31.
This new measure, as well as other existing ones, are expected to increase the willingness of cruise ships to dock in Hualien and enhance the local economy, it said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and