Taiwan railway hit by multiple fatal accidents

Taipei: Taiwan’s railway service has suffered four accidents in a single week, with most of the accidents being caused by trespassing on tracks. On the evening of Aug. 18, a man was killed in Kaohsiung, a major Taiwanese city, when he rode his bicycle onto railway tracks and was hit by an oncoming train, Xinhua news agency reported.

The incident came a day after a train in Hualien was halted after a teenager hit a stone placed on the tracks. On Aug. 13, a woman was hit and killed by a train after falling from a railway platform onto the tracks in New Taipei City.

Two days earlier, another man was killed after being hit by a train at night at Songshan Station in Taipei. There has been growing public concern about railway safety on the island, as well as calls for authorities to install platform doors at stations.

The Taiwan railway service provider responded that the installation is complicated because of the different types of train carriages. It also said that the platform doors will be tested at Kaohsiung Station by the end of this year, and await further evaluation for installation at other stations.

(IANS)