2018 Yilan train derailment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date | 21 October 2018 16:50 local time (UTC+8) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Location | Xinma station, Su'ao, Yilan County 70 km (43 mi) SE from Taipei | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 24°36′57″N121°49′24″E / 24.61583°N 121.82333°E Coordinates: 24°36′57″N121°49′24″E / 24.61583°N 121.82333°E | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | Taiwan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Line | Yilan line, Eastern Trunk line | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operator | Taiwan Railways Administration | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Service | 6432 Puyuma express bound for Taitung | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Incident type | Derailment | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cause | Excessive speed, inactive automatic train protection system [1] [2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Trains | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Passengers | 366 [3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Deaths | 18 [3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Injured | 187 [3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Red timestamp is time of crash, other timestamps are scheduled departures [4] |
On 21 October 2018, a passenger train derailed in Yilan County, Taiwan, killing 18 people and injuring 187. [5] [6] [7] At the time, it was Taiwan's deadliest rail accident since a collision near Miaoli in 1991 that killed 30 people. [6] [8]
At 16:50 local time (UTC+8), a Puyuma express train, service 6432 from Shulin bound for Taitung, derailed on a curve with a radius of 300 metres (980 ft) when passing through the Xinma station in Yilan County, about 70 kilometres (43 mi) from Taipei. [3] [9] There were 366 passengers travelling on the train. [3] [10]
Of the eight carriages, numbers 3 through 8 toppled over and collided into each other in a "W" shape, while the rest went off the track with lesser damage. [6] The front car was seen tipped over at an angle of 75 degrees, and most of the fatalities are believed to have been in this car. [11] Survivor accounts claimed that the driver applied the emergency brake multiple times before the incident, and another claimed that the train sped up after the curve. [12]
All trains in the eastern trunk line were halted in both directions, with replacement bus services provided. [13] Hundreds of medics and firefighters, and 100 army troops responded to the scene. [14] As of 21:35 local time all passengers, including the dead, had been removed/evacuated from the wreckage. [15] The derailment was the worst train accident in Taiwan since 1991, when 30 people were killed in a collision near Miaoli [8] until a train derailment in 2021 killed 49 people in Hualien. [16]
At least 18 people were killed in the accident, with another 187 injured, all on board. [3]
Six of the dead were reportedly under the age of 18. [17] Taiwan's Railway Authority confirmed that 8 of the dead were of the same family, and the Health Ministry confirmed that 53 injured passengers remained in the hospital. [18]
The train involved in the accident was built by the Japanese company Nippon Sharyo in 2011, and underwent major maintenance work in 2017. [19] On 22 October 2018, it was reported that the driver of the train reported an issue with the main air compressor just before the derailment. The Chief Secretary of Taiwan Railways Administration, Chu Lai-shun, said that a full failure of the main air compressor would cause insufficient power and problems with deceleration, but should not cause a derailment. In addition, the train's automatic train protection (ATP) was disabled shortly before the derailment, which, according to the driver was because of an earlier fault which delayed the train. Prosecutors accused him of negligence for not turning it on again afterwards. Investigators believe that without ATP enabled, the train's speed was not properly monitored, which led to the train approaching the curve at a speed of 140 km/h (87 mph), almost twice the speed limit. [20] [21]
As part of the investigation, all 18 other Puyama trains in service on Taiwanese railways were thoroughly inspected. No fault was found. Nevertheless, a report by Chinese-language Apple Daily Sunday found that Taiwanese trains were experiencing problems with the ATP system, citing anonymous sources from within the TRA. [22] As the investigation progressed, technical flaws with the connection of the train's protection system to the signalling centre were found with the Puyama trains, [23] and Japanese manufacturer Nippon Sharyo promised the Taiwanese government it would fix the flaw by 11 November, with testing and certification expected to take a month. [24]
The driver of the train was granted bail of NT$ 500,000 (US$16,167) on 23 October, after he had been detained for investigation. [25]
The conclusion of the investigation was announced by a press release on 6 June by the Taiwan Yilan District Prosecutors Office. The direct causes of the incident were found to be excessive speed in the curve and the disabling of the train protection system by the driver, in breach of relevant operating regulations. Issues with the main air compressor were found not to be a contributing factor.
Improper management of the testing process of Puyuma trains, which caused an absence of testing of the ATP remote monitoring system, resulted in an indictment of the former Deputy Director of the TRA's Department of Rolling Stock and of the Chief of TRA's Central Dispatch Office. Other staff involved in the incident, such as dispatchers and mechanics, were found not to be liable, and no evidence of corruption or neglect of duty by public officials was reported. [26]
In response to views that there were shortcomings in the initial investigation, the Taiwanese government converted the Aviation Safety Council (ASC), which previously only dealt with aviation accidents and incidents, into the comprehensive Taiwan Transportation Safety Board (TTSB), which also covers maritime and train accidents and incidents. [27]
President Tsai Ing-wen called the accident a "major tragedy" and directed the government and military to "step up" rescue efforts. [28] The President also called for an investigation into the crash, that would "make clear the timing and situation of the whole accident". [12] In addition, "drastic reform of the TRA to restore public confidence in the safety of railway transportation" is to be carried out. [22]
As a result of the incident, the Democratic Progressive Party and Kuomintang halted campaigning for the November local elections. [9]
The Taipei Blood Donation Centre issued a press release that highlighted local blood donation centres and urged blood donors to donate. [29]
President Tsai met with relatives of the dead and injured on 22 October. She joined Buddhist monks in prayer at an altar next to the hospital. [17]
In March 2020, three people who worked for the TRA at the time of the derailment were impeached by the Control Yuan. [30] In October 2021, the Yilan District Court sentenced the driver of the train to four years and six months imprisonment for negligent homicide. [31] The court stated that he had inactivated the automatic train protection (ATP) system after passing Fulong because air compressors in the first and eighth cars were shutting down spontaneously, which inhibited acceleration of the train. When the train stopped at Yilan and Luodong, the driver did not reactivate ATP. [32] Two other Taiwan Railways Administration officials were not guilty. [33]
Other similar railway incidents:
Excessive speed around curves
Disabled train protection system
The Hatfield rail crash was a railway accident on 17 October 2000, at Hatfield, Hertfordshire. It was caused by a metal fatigue-induced derailment, killing four people and injuring more than 70.
The 2005 JR Amagasaki derailment occurred in Amagasaki, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, on 25 April 2005 at 09:19 local time, just after the local rush hour. It occurred when a seven-car commuter train came off the tracks on West Japan Railway Company's Fukuchiyama Line in just before Amagasaki on its way for Dōshisha-mae via the JR Tōzai Line and the Gakkentoshi Line, and the front two cars rammed into an apartment building. The first car slid into the first-floor parking garage and as a result took days to remove, while the second slammed into the corner of the building, being crushed into an L-shaped against it by the weight of the remaining cars. Of the roughly 700 passengers on board at the time of the crash, 106 passengers, in addition to the driver, were killed and 562 others injured. Most survivors and witnesses claimed that the train appeared to have been travelling too fast. The incident was Japan's most serious since the 1963 Tsurumi rail accident.
The railways of New South Wales, Australia have had many incidents and accidents since their formation in 1831. There are close to 1000 names associated with rail-related deaths in NSW on the walls of the Australian Railway Monument in Werris Creek. Those killed were all employees of various NSW railways. The details below include deaths of employees and the general public.
A runaway train is a type of railroad incident in which unattended rolling stock is accidentally allowed to roll onto the main line, a moving train loses enough braking power to be unable to stop in safety, or a train operates at unsafe speeds due to loss of operator control. If the uncontrolled rolling stock derails or hits another train, it will result in a train wreck.
Yilan is a railway station of Yilan line of the Taiwan Railways Administration located at Yilan City, Yilan County, Taiwan.
The Taroko Express is an express train service of the Taiwan Railways Administration, and is part of Tze-Chiang Limited Express. The name of the service comes from the 19-kilometre (12-mile) long Taroko Gorge, which is one of Taiwan's most popular tourist spots, and the Truku people. It began commercial operations on 16 February 2007.
The Puyuma Express is a type of railway service on Taiwan Railways (TRA) notable for using tilting trains. It began commercial service on 6 February 2013 during the Spring Festival.
The Santiago de Compostela derailment occurred on 24 July 2013, when an Alvia high-speed train traveling from Madrid to Ferrol, in the north-west of Spain, derailed at high speed on a bend about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) outside of the railway station at Santiago de Compostela. Out of 222 people on board, 143 were injured and 79 died.
On 9 November 2016, a tram operated by Tramlink derailed and overturned on a sharp bend approaching a junction. Of a total 69 passengers, there were seven fatalities and 62 injured, 19 of whom sustained serious injuries. This was the first tram incident in the United Kingdom in which passengers died since 1959.
On 15 November 1991, two passenger trains collided in Miaoli County, Taiwan, killing 30 people and injuring 112. It was the deadliest train accident in Taiwan since 1948 until April 2021 when 49 passengers were killed after a train derailed in Hualien.
The Stonehaven derailment was a fatal railway accident that occurred at 09:38 BST on 12 August 2020, when a passenger train returning to Aberdeen hit a landslip, near Carmont, west of Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, following severe rain. Of the nine people aboard, three were killed, and six were injured.
On 2 April 2021, at 09:28 NST (01:28 UTC), a Taroko Express train operated by the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) derailed at the north entrance of Qingshui Tunnel in Heren Section, Xiulin Township, Hualien County, Taiwan, killing 49 people and injuring at least 200 others. At the time of the accident, the train was carrying 494 passengers. The eight-carriage train derailed after colliding with a construction truck that had fallen down a slope onto the tracks north of Hualien City; the train came to rest in the tunnel, with severe damage and many casualties.
{{cite news}}
: |last=
has generic name (help)