Puyuma train derailed in Yilan (21 October 2018)

No. I’m not a reactive type. I flew 2 weeks after 9/11.

If anything the trains will be ultra safe now, because a repeat would destroy them. The only issue that would stop me is if the tracks are blocked.

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Which they never should’ve done in the first place.

I’d replace “never” with “almost never.”
There’s a couple examples of planes crashing from the same fixable problem that crashed an earlier plane. But it’s extremely rare.

So, does anyone know if the tracks are blocked or not? I would go to Hualien now if possible.

“We’ve got this system to stop you driving too fast, but you can turn it off if, say, you’re coming to the end of your shift.”

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If you read Chinese.

Now, single track and slow speed.

I dont read Chinese. Would it be better to just take the car?

If the safety system was disabled before departure like has been reported then it seems like negligence on TRA’s part. Also wonder how many times they have disabled such systems previously…

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Yes. It’s this kind of thing that scares me.

What an incredible statement to make before any investigation is concluded. This is how fake news is generated. Do these things not happen elsewhere? A bridge in Italy collapsed last month, 40 people died; an apartment complex was burned into a wreck in England last year and 70+ people died, including a pregnant woman; Spain had a high-speed rail derailment in 2013 and something like 80 people died; finally 3 train collisions have happened in Germany this year and last year, luckily not too many people have died. Is their European-ness responsable for all that? Are their older generations to blame for all that and their young people are all leaving? Or is there some other elements in their tragedies that are so unique to Europe that Taiwan isn’t fit to qualify?

Your inference reeks of Western superiority. It’s very unappealing.

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Take the plane.

Already checked, they are full.

Leaving with car in 30 minutes.

It is part of the “must make it on time no matter what”. When teh train started having electrical failures, they should have stopped. Instead, they disconnected the safety automatics, to speed beyond safety limits, to make up time.

I also doubt that the decision was solely teh driver´s. In a bureocraticv nightmare as most state enterprises and agencies are, you cannot fart without asking permission to 6 people and have a kilo of gongwen. There must be a gongwen somewhere stating penalities for the driver and station manager for not making it on time, but most importantly, there must be someone upstairs who gave the authorization, and I am sure he was nowhere near the train or Yilan, but Taipei.

Please notice the TRA guy at teh press conefrences was lost. The problem with such iron clad micro management vertical commands is that the ones upstairs -ironically- do not know actually know what is going on nor have teh most updated or truthful information. Everyone scrambles to cover their behind… and blame the one below. If the driver dies, it will all be pinned on him, but hell if it is all his fault.

They were asking to keep the highways clear for ambulances. Please give way to emergency vehicles, drive safely and carefully.

Are you sure you have to go today?

Expect resignations all the way up to the Minister for Railways.

Ministry of Transportation.

Railway Administration.

As long as they keep their 18%, all is OK.

What is unappealing is people who neglect to do their job right and people die.
If you want to pretend that the vast majority of Asia does not have safety standards problems then have at it and put your head right down in the sand. A bit of reading comprehension and attention to minor details would reveal I stated “If they discover that corners were cut to pad someone’s pockets, that person should lose everything they have. Lives were lost and destroyed.” …IF.
Everything else I stated about greed, corruption and laziness stands very true.

This is not about Western countries vs. Taiwan. I never brought up anything about the West. I am talking about this region of the world right now because that is where this tragedy took place. That is where I live. That is where the problems need to be fixed so that we all can take trains, planes etc and be reasonably sure we will be alive once we reach our destination. Do other countries suffer from the same problems? I am sure they do.

When a machine fails it is because of human error. Period. Either it was a design flaw, negligence with safety procedure, negligence with maintenance or training that cause the train to derail. Trains don’t jump off the tracks all on their own. So my speculation that it was due to human error is justified. My rant about greed, corruption and laziness being the root cause of the human error is also justified given the track record in this region of the world.

And enough of the “fake news” BS already.

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Sorry, you’re saying they should resign or that they have already done it?

Just saw this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqQPDToS9Nw

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that’s someone recording (with a phone?) a surveillance video on a pc screen? why not…oh, whatever

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That looks a lot like too much speed in a tight corner, hence the locomotive flying outwards.
Very much like the accident in Spain some years ago.

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