Operators reassure public that trains can fail safely
SAFETY SYSTEM: The ATC monitors and calculates the maximum speeds of trains and automatically applies brakes when it detects abnormality, the operators said
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
Taiwan Railway Corp (TRC) and Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) yesterday said their train safety systems are designed to automatically bring trains to a stop when they detect abnormal conditions.
They made the comment following a deadly collision in Spain on Wednesday, when a high-speed train struck another train that had stopped on the tracks, killing at least 69 people.
Spanish Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility Oscar Puente said the railway control center had allowed a train to resume service despite a red signal, describing the decision as “incomprehensible,” foreign media reported.
Investigators survey debris amongst the damaged carriages of a train crash between two high-speed units in Toledo, Spain, yesterday.
Photo: AFP
TRC president Feng Hui-sheng (馮輝昇) said the company’s railway safety office had obtained information about the accident in Spain and was reviewing its own safety protection mechanisms.
Taiwan’s railway signaling system is designed to fail safely, meaning that a system failure should cause it to default to a safe state, Feng said.
If a train stops, the signal governing the section behind it would display a danger indication, instructing following trains to stop, in accordance with safety procedures, he said.
The following train’s protection system would also activate automatically to slow the train and bring it to a stop, while train personnel would get off and carry out standard operating procedures to protect the train from behind, he added.
“Please rest assured that Taiwan Railway will rigorously implement its safety protection mechanisms. An incident like the one in Spain would not happen here,” he said.
THSRC said that its system, like Japan’s Shinkansen bullet train system, was designed according to the principle of failing safely as well.
The railway operators said high-speed trains are monitored by an automatic train control (ATC) system that continuously monitors their speeds.
When the system detects an abnormality, loses a signal or encounters a signaling failure, it automatically applies emergency brakes to ensure safe train operations and protect passengers, they said.
The ATC system continuously calculates the maximum permitted speed based on the position of the train ahead, the route set by the control center and other track conditions, the operators said.
If a train exceeds its permitted speed, the system automatically reduces its speed to prevent overshooting the limit or getting too close to a train ahead, they added.
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