Driver turned off speed control before deadly Taiwan train crash, court hears
● Train went off rails on a curve while moving at nearly twice the speed limit of 74km/h
● Driver told bail hearing he switched off system to boost power on earlier stretch of the journey
The driver of a train in Taiwan that crashed killing 18 people told a court on Tuesday he had switched off its speed-control system, a court official said, as investigators pieced together events that led to the island’s worst rail crash in decades.
Chief investigator Wu Ze-cheng said earlier it was not clear whether the speed-control system, called automatic train protection, had switched off by itself or had been manually disabled before the accident, which also injured 187 people.
A spokesman for Taiwan Yilan District Court said the driver told his bail hearing he switched off the system himself to boost the train’s power when it had slowed down on an earlier stretch of the journey.
“He should have turned the system back on at the next stop,” said the court spokesman, Huang Yong-sheng. “The defendant is highly suspected to have been negligent.”
Reuters was not able to reach the train driver, You Zhen-zhong, 48, for comment. He was granted bail of T$500,000 (US$16,160) and barred from leaving Taiwan after being detained for the investigation.
You had been treated in hospital after the accident.
