TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An 18-year-old high school student surnamed Li (李) pulled an older woman off train tracks at Banqiao Station Southbound 2A platform at 8 a.m. on Saturday (Feb. 24) after she fell onto them, but his actions drew a reprimand from the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA).
TRA warned that his actions heightened the potential risk of the situation, and passengers are always prohibited from getting on railway tracks. Instead, TRA said the correct action would have been to notify station personnel, per PTS.
Li said he had carefully judged the situation and felt he had enough time to reach the woman and move her to safety. He moved her to a gap between adjacent train tracks.
Heroic high school student warned to stay off railway tracks. (CNA photo)
"I looked at the headlights of the train and saw that it had not come into the station yet, so I went down onto the tracks. The grandma did not seem to have any reaction. She might have been a little scared, so she was just slumped over on the tracks. This made it easy for me to move her to a safe place," said Li.
The principal of Li’s high school, Shen Mei-hua (沈美華), agreed that Li should have considered his safety as a primary consideration. “He said his father often told him that before helping others, you must pay attention to your safety. This is what we often remind our children."
The oncoming train had already been notified of a disturbance on the tracks and was stopped. "When the train was about to enter the station, the driver stopped as a precaution,” said Railway Police Bureau Banqiao Station Chief Lu Yi-yuan (呂義原).
Lu said Li had violated the Railway Act, and the case was being transferred to the relevant authority to prosecute. TRA is studying the feasibility of installing platform doors to prevent passengers from entering railway tracks, with trial operations slated for Kaohsiung Station by year-end.
However, some experts believe platform doors will be difficult to install as many different models of trains operate on TRA tracks, with door positions and track alignment difficult to coordinate.
As an interim measure, some experts have encouraged TRA to strengthen announcements and warnings when trains enter and exit stations. The Railway Police Bureau also called upon passengers to be mindful of standing behind the yellow warning line on train platforms to ensure safety.
