International Railroad Discussion > Taiwan Passenger Train Derailment

According to BBC News, a passenger train has derailed in Taiwan, killing 17 and injuring many more. A total of 350 were on the train. No further information such as what train it was or where it was heading was provided. Interesting to note, the BBC referred to the country as Taiwan as they should, not China.

andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> According to BBC News, a passenger train has
> derailed in Taiwan, killing 17 and injuring many
> more. A total of 350 were on the train. No further
> information such as what train it was or where it
> was heading was provided. Interesting to note, the
> BBC referred to the country as Taiwan as they
> should, not China.

Here's a photo of the accident, posted on Japan's Yomiuri Online:

https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/photograph/news/article.html?id=20181021-OYT1I50037

The accident happened in the NE province of Taiwan in Yilan Province. Limited Express "Puyuma" using the TEMU 2000 EMU manufactured by Nippon Sharyo. Speculation right now is overspeed on a curve, but it's too early to determine the official cause.

Chinese propaganda + US Media = political correctness comedy = Taiwan vs. China.

Geographically, the island-nation will always be called Taiwan, unless some pathetic man-made event evaporates the Pacific Ocean and connects the island to the mainland. That airline destination + country code +  reservation system "controversy" should have never made front page news this summer.

The station where the derailment happened is Xinma Station 新馬 on the Yilan Line 宜蘭線, the northern end of the Eastern [Main] Line.  Line detail, 3'6" gauge, 25Kv 60Hz overhead line. The line has CTC and most if not all equipment has some form of ATC (Automatic Train Control).   That's what is so puzzling about the overspeed suggestion.   With ATC in operation, that should not be possible. 

The derailment happened at 16:50 on Saturday, 20 October.  This was train 6432 originating at Shulin 樹林 near downtown Taipei and terminating at Taitung 臺東 on the southeast coast of the island.

As cchan006 mentioned, the equipment was a Nippon Sharyo TEMU2000 tilt trainset with leading power cars TED2008 facing east and TED2007 facing west.  From some TV reports, it appears both power cars remained upright.   The name "Puyuma" is an indigenous Puyuma 卑南族 word meaning "together" or "united" in the native Nanwang Dialect (extremely rare). 

Investigation is onging, but there is some suggestion that perhaps there was a failure in the tilt mechanism as the train entered the curve at Xinma Station.  According to Taiwan Railway Adminstration (TRA), the trainset had recently undergone the equivalent of our 90 day FRA inspection with nothing out of the ordinary.

The death toll has risen to 22 and may rise even more.

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/at-least-3-dead-over-20-injured-after-train-derails-in-taiwans-north-eastern-yilan

Two years ago, I happened to spend a few hours at Xinma Station to catch some of the EMD/DD G22CUs working the "dirt" trains removing excess dirt and clay sediment from bridge columns being constructed for a major east coast motorway extension.  Attached is the unattended station of Xinma and G22CU R167 coming through the very curve the derailment happened on yesterday. 

d.


 

---

---

The train was running with disabled ATC:
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3558111

Also, at the end of the article, there is a video of the station's surveillance system showing the derailment, and if it's in real time, the overspeed hypothesis would seem to be plausible to me...

Posted from Android

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3558580

Still begs the question, why was the ATPS disabled?   Many questions to be answered.

d.

According to a report on tonight's CBS news the cause was overspeed in a curve ( 142kph vs. 70 kph speed limit in curve) and engineer had disabled the on board over speed device earlier in the day on account it was " not working properly and unecessarily slowing down the train".

   If this is accurate then the engineer ignored the speed restriction on this curve. As is the case in 80% of all crashes, this one appears to be human failure.

   Ross Rowland

There's a background piece on Taiwannews:
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3558883

While the statements of the scholar they're quoting seem dubious to me*, there's some information there about the circumstances of the accident.

The engineer was usually working as a 'scheduling supervisor', as they put it, and was in the cab because it was a holiday and they were understaffed.

Then the trainset developed air pressure problems, got behind schedule, the dispatcher urged to make up time (they planned to set out the trainset at the next major station), and no one was available to ride along in the cab, as usually required. So you have a guy under pressure doing a job that he wasn't usually doing, and additionally the train control system was disabled, so it's easy to see what could go wrong here...

*His statement regarding the tilting trains reflects the common misconception that this technology allows higher speeds with regard to the rail-wheel-contact, though it only influences the acceptable centrifugal speeds for the passenger's well-being. The slower train class he mentions would have gone off the rails too with that speed in that curve.

The maintenance state of the Taiwanese system seemed very good to me, it's narrow gauge and has large stick rail stretches, but the ride is very smooth even at high speeds (> 120km/h), much better than in the U.S. west of the NEC.

Trains are well kept and efficient, running at a high frequency, and they're very well booked.
Three days after the wreck, the railroad resumed full two-way operation, which is very fast, DB German Rail still hasn't resumed full operations on the stretch damaged by the ICE fire more than a week ago.

Posted from Android

sys3175 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> The engineer was usually working as a 'scheduling
> supervisor', as they put it, and was in the cab
> because it was a holiday and they were
> understaffed.
>
> Then the trainset developed air pressure problems,
> got behind schedule, the dispatcher urged to make
> up time (they planned to set out the trainset at
> the next major station), and no one was available
> to ride along in the cab, as usually required. So
> you have a guy under pressure doing a job that he
> wasn't usually doing, and additionally the train
> control system was disabled, so it's easy to see
> what could go wrong here...


Just like this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amagasaki_derailment

>
> *His statement regarding the tilting trains
> reflects the common misconception that this
> technology allows higher speeds with regard to the
> rail-wheel-contact, though it only influences the
> acceptable centrifugal speeds for the passenger's
> well-being. The slower train class he mentions
> would have gone off the rails too with that speed
> in that curve.

It's the myth that just won't die.

TAW