TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan Railway Corporation (TRC) and Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC) will install more screen doors on their station platforms following complaints about the rising number of accidents, reports said Thursday (Sept. 26).

The topic came up at the Legislative Yuan, where Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) quoted data showing TRC registered 18 incidents where people or objects fell off platforms on to the tracks in 2023. For 2024, the number had increased to 25, per CNA.

Figures from THSRC mentioned eight incidents in 2021, with two passengers and six objects falling from station platforms. Last year, five travelers and 11 objects accounted for 16 incidents, with this year so far registering eight passengers and seven objects falling on to the tracks in a total of 15 incidents, Lee said.

TRC pointed out that because of the widely different sizes of trains it uses, it was difficult to install doors of the right size and at the right places. A pilot project for platform doors will be implemented in Kaohsiung by the end of the year, officials said.

At present, Taipei is the only THSRC station that has installed the doors, but the company said all other 11 stations would follow suit and be ready in 2028, with Hsinchu and Banqiao coming first.

Transportation Minister Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told lawmakers how he was urging both companies to speed up the installation work because an incident had happened in his home town of Taichung the day before he assumed office, per Radio Taiwan International.