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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Airport MRT quicker by June: minister
Bureau of High Speed Rail Director-General Allen Hu speaks during a session of the Legislative Yuan’s Transport Committee yesterday in Taipei. Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
FIT FOR PURPOSE? Damaged power cables were found at 565 locations along the Taoyuan airport MRT line and only 17 percent have been replaced, a lawmaker said
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Jian-yu （陳建宇） yesterday said the work to raise the operational speed of the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT line is to be completed by June, adding that the contractor would be asked to vouch for the safety of the system following the emergence of multiple issues during the testing phase.
Chen made the announcement at the legislature’s Transportation Committee, when he was grilled by lawmakers about the many problems plaguing the MRT line.
Chen said that Marubeni Corp, the Japanese contractor in charge of building the line’s signaling system, has been asked to raise the operational speed of the trains by June.
Currently, an express train departing from Taipei Railway Station takes about 37 minutes to reach the airport, rather than 35 minutes as stipulated in the contract, he added.
Chen said trains are expected to depart at intervals of 10 to 12 minutes during peak hours, adding that currently trains are able to depart at intervals of at least 12 minutes.
He said that Taoyuan Metro Corp, which is to operate the line, can run simulations at the stations along the route, he said.
The government was forced to postpone the launch date of the much-anticipated line six times, as the contractor keeps failing to meet the standards stipulated in the contract in terms of train speed, travel duration for express trains and the interval at which the trains depart.
Lawmakers questioned the quality of the MRT line’s construction in a question-and-answer session.
Citing Taoyuan Metro Corp statistics, Democratic Progressive Party （DPP） Legislator Lee Kun-tse （李昆澤） said electric cables and rail pads used in the line’s construction were found to be problematic.
Damaged cables were found at 565 locations and only about 17 percent of them have been replaced, he said.
Lee added that about 5,000 system abnormalities were detected between Oct. 26 last year and Feb. 25.
The worst problem is that emergency brakes were activated even if there was no other train on the railway track, he said, adding that the emergency braking system was triggered on average every 339km that trains traveled.
The ratio is 136 times higher than that of Taipei’s MRT system and 125 times higher than that of Kaohsiung’s MRT system, he said.
Lee said that the airport line, which is about 51km long, has had 7,000 broken railway track pads in one year.
Taipei’s MRT system is about 131km long and has broken railway track pads had less than 10, he said.
In response, Chen questioned the validity of the report from Taoyuan Metro Corp, saying that the so-called system abnormalities included malfunctioning toilets.
Chen also said that both the contractor and the subcontractor would be asked to submit documents certifying the safety of the system prepared by an independent party, or the line would not be launched.
Problems over safety would be thoroughly addressed before the ministry turns the system over to the Taoyuan Metro Corp, Chen said.
Meanwhile, the committee passed a resolution asking the government to consider banning Marubeni from bidding in public construction projects in Taiwan for one year, based on the regulations in the Government Procurement Act （政府採購法）.
Apart from a penalty of NT$2.5 billion （US$76.82 million） for the delays in the MRT line, Chen said that the government would seek restitution from the Japanese contractor for losses caused by the construction delays, which includes the losses inflicted on Taoyuan Metro Corp.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
