Japanese rolling stock manufacturer Nippon Sharyo has identified design defects in the train that derailed in Taiwan last month, reported Reuters.
Nippon Sharyo official Naoki Sato told the news agency that an internal investigation on the Taiwan train crash found a flaw in the wiring blueprint between the train’s automatic train protection (ATP) safety system and the control station.
Sato further added that the same flawed blueprint was used to manufacture all 19 train sets delivered to Taiwan.
The defect prevented the train from alerting the central control system, which would have activated the automatic safety feature.
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The speed control system is designed to automatically slow the train down when it exceeds the speed limit.
The train in questions was travelling at nearly 149 kmph, twice the permitted limit, when it was derailed in Yilan on 21 October.
Four carriages were overturned in the train crash, causing 18 fatalities and injuring 187 others.
Following the disclosure by Nippon Sharyo, the Taiwan Railways Administration sought a detailed explanation from the company about the design flaws.
During court trials last month, the driver of the train You Zhen-zhong said that he manually switched off the speed-control system in order to increase its power.
He failed to switch it back on when the train was travelling around a curve as he was communicating with the coordinators to address other speed issues of the vehicle.
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