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Rescuers are working on the site of a train derailment in Yilan County, northeastern Taiwan on Monday, October 22, 2018. Passengers were killed and injured on Sunday by one of the trains the newest and fastest in Taiwan that have derailed. (Kyodo News via AP) (Associated Press)
TAIPEI, Taiwan – Speeding has been the main cause of a train derailment in Taiwan, which left 18 dead and many injured, a district court said Tuesday.
The train entered a curve in eastern Taiwan Sunday afternoon at 140 km / h, nearly twice the maximum speed allowed for this stretch of track, the Yilan County District Court announced. in a statement.
The train driver was indicted for suspicion of negligence resulting in death.
The driver, Yu Cheng-chung, deactivated the train's automatic protection system after detecting "abnormal movements" during acceleration, according to the court statement. The system would have allowed him to brake and otherwise the driver would have had to control the train by hand, he said.
"Since the automatic train protection system had been disabled, the driver should have had better control over the speed of the train and used the brakes to prepare to avoid hazards," the statement said.
As the train approached the station where he derailed, the driver did not notice the speed rules, the court added. The train was not scheduled to stop at the station, where the maximum speed allowed is 75 km / h (47 mph).
"There was no way to make the curve, causing the whole train to derail and tip over, resulting in the death of 18 people," the court said.
The driver was released on bail of $ 500,000 ($ 16,141) and is not allowed to leave Taiwan.
Possible mechanical problems related to the train are also under study.
Japanese-built 6-year-old Puyuma trains were designed to travel 150 km / h (93 mph) to facilitate transportation on rugged parts of the east coast of the island. mountainous. They are designed to bend around corners, speeding up journeys and lightening the road network that crosses the central mountain range of Taiwan.
The train carried more than 360 passengers. The accident injured about 190 people.
Sunday's crash was the deadliest railway disaster in Taiwan since the wreckage of a train in 1991 that killed 30 people.
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