TAIPEI, Taiwan — At least 18 people were killed and another 187 injured on Sunday afternoon when a passenger train derailed in Northeast Taiwan. It is the country’s worst rail accident in 27 years.
Puyama Express No. 6432 derailed near the town of Su’ao, about 43 miles from Taipai. All eight cars of the train derailed, and most overturned, the BBC reported. Taiwan News reported the train was traveling at 125 kilometers per hour (about 78 mph) at the time of the accident. A security-camera video shows the train leaving the tracks as it rounds a curve.
The equipment involved was built in 2011 and had just undergone major maintenance, CNN reported, quoting Lu Chieh-shen, head of the Taiwan Railways Administration. He said the cause is still under investigation.
Gerald McFarlane,
This is 3’6″ gauge track so 78mph would be somewhere near the equivalent of something like 90mph on standard gauge. That is high speed for a non-dedicated high speed line especially on the curve seen.
I would like to know what the maximum permitted speed is at that location.
Pretty sure only the new high speed lines are standard gauge.
JAMES _ Are you sure this was narrow gauge? I thought Taiwan has had a program of installing standard gauge on the main lines.
The “Driver” had disabled the speed control , and the train was travelling twice as fast as it should . https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-45951475
This startling derailment appears to have been caused by excessive speed on a curve through the station. It would be interesting to know what safety system TRA uses to control speed and if so, is that curve supposed to be protected by it.
James Livesey,
I don’t have the same opinion as you do, it almost appears that the train split a turnout and road up on the end of the platform, that’s what caused it to go airborn and flip on it’s side…remember, we’re only talking 78 mph here and the curvature doesn’t look that extreme to preclude that rate of speed.