Latest update August 23rd, 2019 12:00 AM
Puyuma driver did notify about turning off ATP: Executive Yuan
Taipei, An Executive Yuan task force that is currently investigating the deadly derailment of a Puyuma express train on Oct. 21 said Wednesday that the train driver did report about turning off an automatic train protection (ATP) system, refuting what the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said earlier in the day.
According to Minister without Portfolio Wu Tze-cheng (???), who is heading the task force, the driver told dispatchers at 4:46 p.m. that he had turned off the ATP, four minutes before the train derailed near Xinma Station, Yilan County.
Deactivation of the system could lead to speeding, which was the main cause of the derailment as the train was traveling at nearly twice the permissible speed when it entered the station, prosecutors said.
While the train driver had told prosecutors that he turned off the system near Daxi Station, 44 km north of Xinma, it had been unclear whether he had reported about his move and got approval as he should have.
The TRA said the driver, Yu Cheng-chung (???), did not tell anyone about shutting off the system, which made follow-up mechanical support impossible.
The Taiwan Railway Labor Union, however, argued that it had accessed the communication records and found that Yu did do so.
Wu clarified different versions of the event by saying that Yu did, adding that the driver had started reporting about abnormal power supply from 4:05 p.m. and continued to try to solve the problems with dispatchers until the train derailed.
Wu also confirmed that the ATP had not been working since the train parked at Daxi at 4:14 p.m., and that Yu was told by dispatchers at 4:26 p.m. that the train would be replaced at Hualien Station, 80 km south of Xinma.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel
