webfact Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 Japanese maker of train in deadly Taiwan crash finds design flaw Rescue workers work at the site where a train derailed in Yilan county, Taiwan October 22, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer TOKYO/TAIPEI (Reuters) - The Japanese manufacturer of a train that derailed in Taiwan killing 18 people said it had discovered a design flaw that failed to alert the central control system that an automatic safety feature had been turned off. On Oct. 21 a train in Yilan in Taiwan's northeast came off the rails on a curve while travelling at almost 149 kmh (87 mph), nearly twice the speed limit, the head of a Taiwan government investigation team has said. Eighteen people were killed and 187 injured in the island's worst rail crash in decades. Naoki Sato, an official at Nippon Sharyo, told Reuters on Friday that the company's investigation into the crash had discovered a flaw in the blueprint for wiring the connection of the train's automatic train protection (ATP) safety system to the control station. There is no problem with the safety system itself, which is designed to automatically apply the brakes when the train exceeds the speed limit, the official said. Nippon Sharyo's Sato said the flawed blueprint was used in 19 train sets built for Taiwan, including the one that crashed. He said any decision on whether to fix the wiring was up to the Taiwan rail authority, which owns the trains. The Taiwan Railways Administration said in a statement it has asked Nippon Sharyo for a more detailed explanation. It did not elaborate. It was not immediately clear whether the remaining 18 trains were currently in operation. The train's driver, You Zhen-zhong, told a court last month he switched off the speed-control system to boost the train's power when it slowed down on an earlier stretch of the journey, according to a Taiwan court spokesman, citing his bail hearing. The public defender for You said he knew he had to turn the protection system back on but failed to do so because he was busy communicating with other coordinators about a separate problem with the train's speed. Shares in train manufacturer Nippon Sharyo Ltd plunged by the daily limit in Tokyo, losing 17 percent to a near-2-1/2-year low, after news of the design flaw. (Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim in TOKYO and Jessica Macy Yu in TAIPEI; Editing by Michael Perry) -- © Copyright Reuters 2018-11-02 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mercman24 Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 well thats one big flaw, relying on a human to do a simple task, surely he would know the train was travelling much too fast, well obviously not, now many dead and injured, 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolboy Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 3 minutes ago, mercman24 said: well thats one big flaw, relying on a human to do a simple task, surely he would know the train was travelling much too fast, well obviously not, now many dead and injured, And if he has a heart attack or stroke? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kotsak Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 (edited) 32 minutes ago, bristolboy said: And if he has a heart attack or stroke? Dead man's switch? Edited November 2, 2018 by kotsak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgdanson Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 1 hour ago, webfact said: an official at Nippon Sharyo Otherwise known as HORNBY ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Ulic Posted November 2, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted November 2, 2018 Seems to me the flaw was the driver turning off a safety system so the train would go faster 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Billthekiwi Posted November 2, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted November 2, 2018 It may have been a design flaw but it was the driver who exceeded the safe speed. The driver is solely at fault. It's nice to have a system that can report before a crash but it is almost impossible to prevent every act of stupidity. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Theory Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 Why such safety feature could be turned off easy by the driver❗️And no warning signal to rail control station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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