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Taiwan Taroko Express train crash
China

Taiwan train driver had less than 7 seconds to respond before crash, investigators say

  • Investigation also finds truck had its engine running before it slid down embankment onto the tracks
  • Transport minister pays tribute to driver at memorial service, saying he ‘upheld his duty until the last minute’

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A funeral was held for train driver Yuan Chun-hsiu on Tuesday and his family took his ashes by train to his hometown Taichung. Photo: CNA
Lawrence Chung
The driver in Taiwan’s deadliest train accident had less than seven seconds to respond before his train smashed into a runaway truck last week, killing him and at least 49 others, and injuring 211 people, investigators said on Tuesday.

They also said the flatbed truck still had its engine running before it slid down an embankment from a construction site above the tracks, landing just metres in front of a railway tunnel.

The eight-carriage Taroko Express was packed with 494 passengers when the accident happened on Taiwan’s east coast, near Chongde in Hualien, at 9.28 am on Friday. The train was headed to Taitung from New Taipei City at the start of a four-day holiday.

It hit the truck which had landed on the tracks just a minute before the train passed through Jenho Tunnel and was about to go through Chingshui Tunnel, the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board said.

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Taiwan releases dramatic footage of train crash which killed 50 people

Taiwan releases dramatic footage of train crash which killed 50 people

“The train was travelling at 125km [78 miles] per hour … and the truck was only 250 metres [820 feet] ahead after the train passed through Jenho Tunnel,” safety board chairman Hong Young told reporters.

“That means the driver only had less than seven seconds to respond when he saw the truck,” Young said, adding that the train driver had tried to brake and sounded the horn before the collision.

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