New E500 electric locomotives are to start operations next month if they pass test runs this month, Taiwan Railway Corp (TRC) said yesterday.
The new electric locomotives were purchased as part of the company’s plan to upgrade railway facilities, along with its five-year plan to enhance the safety of railway services and ensure that the safety management system is thoroughly enforced at all levels, the TRC said.
The E500 locomotives would be used to power the Chukuang and Tze-Chiang Express trains after they pass the test runs, the company said.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Railway Corp
An E500 locomotive’s power is 1.8 times higher, and has multiple functions, such as a three-in-one parking emergency button, a speed limit backup system, idling suppression system, and door and power interlocking system, they said.
Passenger cabins would also be directly powered by a 440-Voltage system, the company added.
The TRC said that it had renovated Tze-Chiang Express trains by removing static inverters, installing close-circuit security recording in the train cabins, and updating auxiliary power supply systems and control jumpers to 96 cores, which greatly improves the train’s operational efficiency and safety.
“Using new locomotives is part of our safety improvement plan. During the test runs, train drivers, onboard crew members and train dispatchers should enforce the safety training they had and comply with safety regulations,” TRC chairman Du Wei (杜微) said.
Prior to electric locomotives, the company was using newly-purchased R200 diesel-powered locomotives for train services.
SCENARIOS: A potential conflict with Beijing would not be similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and China would target energy and food supplies, a researcher said China is likely to continue using economic and cyberoperations against Taiwan to force it to capitulate without resorting to a military attack, Fox News reported yesterday, citing the outcome of a tabletop exercise. Washington-based think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) earlier this month held a tabletop exercise in Taipei focusing on Beijing’s use of economic and cybercoercion against Taiwan. The FDD mentioned an “anaconda strategy,” in which Beijing would likely use cyberwarfare and disinformation campaigns followed by a blockade or other measures to strangulate Taiwan, rather than attempting an invasion, the report said. A large-scale cyberattack would be
HSINCHU CASES: Five people among 35 who were reported being sick were still in hospital after eating at a vendor in a market in Jhubei, the local health agency said Thirty-five people have sought medical treatment for acute symptoms after allegedly eating banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) from a vendor in Jhubei City (竹北), the Hsinchu County Public Health Bureau said yesterday. The bureau said that since Saturday, it has received several reports of suspected food poisoning from hospitals. The vendor has been ordered to temporarily suspend its business, it said, adding that tests were being conducted to determine whether the people had food poisoning, with results expected in about two weeks. A preliminary investigation showed that the people who sought treatment had recently eaten banh mi at a vendor at a retail market
GOOD MODEL: Speaking at his book launch, Law said that Taiwan is the most democratic Chinese-speaking country, which is why Hong Kongers relocated here China has suffocated Hong Kong’s civil society and its next target could be Taiwan, Nathan Law (羅冠聰), cofounder of the disbanded pro-democracy Hong Kong political party Demosisto, said in Taipei yesterday. Law made the remarks at a launch in Taipei for his book When the Wind Blows — the Struggles for Freedom of Hong Kong (時代推著我們前行:羅冠聰的香港備忘錄). Law has been living in the UK since he fled Hong Kong in 2020, and the book is about his fighting for the cause of freedom in the area. He was granted political asylum in 2021. “Fleeing is a long and distressing process, but it also
IMITATING OTHERS? Tsai Ing-wen’s office said the former president rents a commercial unit for her personal office and had never used election funds to purchase real estate Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday confirmed that he used about NT$43 million (US$1.35 million) from his presidential election subsidy to purchase an office unit near the Legislative Yuan in May. Ko made the remarks after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) earlier in the day told a news conference that she received a tip-off that the TPP chairman had purchased a 48.76 ping (161.2m2) office unit at Jinan Building (濟南大樓), a commercial building in Taipei’s Zhongzheng District (中正). Lin said that Ko purchased the unit on May 10, paying about NT$43 million in cash,