As authorities investigate the causes of Friday’s deadly train accident, one transportation safety expert has offered insight into the final seconds before the crash.
In footage from January, the Taroko Express No. 408 leaves He-jen tunnel travelling at over 120km/h, heading for the Qingshui tunnel. It’s a clear stretch of less than 300 metres. And it’s precisely here that one of Taiwan’s worst train disasters occurred on Friday.
The distance between the tunnel and the truck was 250 metres. Taroko trains normally cover that in less than seven seconds.
Taiwan Transportation Safety Board Chairperson Young Hong-tsu says there simply wasn’t enough time to stop the train.
After analyzing the train’s CCTV footage, he says the driver reacted within four seconds, but by then the train had traveled nearly half the distance. Young says no matter what the driver did, he could not have stopped the train from hitting the truck.
Young says the accident was made worse by the fact the train then entered a second tunnel. He says that’s why the left side of the train was so severely mangled.
The Taiwan Transportation Safety Board is reviewing footage from the train’s cameras and conducting 3D scans of the area in the hope of shedding more light on the cause of the accident.