Japanese maker of train in deadly Taiwan crash finds design flaw

Nippon Sharyo

02/11/2018 01:10

TOKYO, Nov 2 (Reuters) - The Japanese manufacturer of a
train that derailed in Taiwan killing 18 people said it had
discovered a design flaw that failed to alert the central
control system that an automatic safety feature had been turned
off.
    Shares in the company, Nippon Sharyo Ltd  7102.T , plunged
by the daily limit in Tokyo, losing 17 percent in early trade.
    On Oct. 21 a train in Yilan in Taiwan's northeast came off
the rails on a curve while travelling at almost 149 km/h (87
mph), nearly twice the speed limit, the head of a Taiwan
government investigation team has said.
    Eighteen people were killed and 187 injured in the island's
worst rail crash in decades.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1X31T0
    A Nippon Sharyo official told Reuters the company had since
discovered a flaw in the blueprint for wiring the train's
alerting system to the control station.
    There is no problem with the automatic safety system itself,
which is designed to automatically apply the brakes when the
train exceeds the speed limit, the official said.
    The train's driver told a court last month he had switched
off the speed-control system. 

 (Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Michael Perry)
 ((ran.kim@thomsonreuters.com; +81-3-6441-1804; Reuters
Messaging: ran.kim.reuters.com@reuters.net))