Tu Wei, who looks back on a 30-year-long career at the TRA, was promoted from second in command to director-general right after the Taroko Express accident, which killed 49 people and injured more than 200. 

Ten years ago, Tu went back to school, earning a master’s degree in political science from National Taiwan University. The topic of his thesis was the corporatization of the TRA. For Tu, an ideal railway service attaches equal importance to safety and punctuality. He admits that the TRA, as a 73-year-old organization, is hampered by a complex system. Knowledge is still being transferred based on personal experience and interaction between master and apprentice. Many areas of negligence have now been discovered.

He believes, for instance, that the TRA lacks efficiency because its chains of command are too long. After taking office, he promoted regional coordination centers to shorten the chains of decision and command. Furthermore he posits that, in comparison with the organizational structure of airlines, the hierarchical level of the operations safety department, which is concerned with transportation safety, is too low.

The only problem is that the Legislative Yuan needs to approve an organizational restructuring. Tu hopes to rejuvenate the TRA through a revamped organizational structure, but the timetable for that endeavor remains unknown.

How can the TRA move forward into the future? The following are excerpts from our interview with Tu:

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Q: After the investigation of the Puyuma express train accident in 2018, the conclusion was that the TRA must establish a safety management system (SMS). What can you tell us about its progress?

A: The safety culture at the TRA must change. Last year the TRA established a “self-initiated reporting mechanism”, that uses telephone, e-mail, and hotlines as channels to encourage colleagues to report risks and hazards, and even to admit mistakes, tell the truth, and assist in finding problems and solving them.

Whistleblower system prerequisite for change

Our employees are asking whether whistleblowers will be punished. The TRA must not resort to any inappropriate treatment or punishment. Since the inception of the self-initiated reporting mechanism last year, we have received 28 cases. This is not a lot, but this is where change begins.
(Source: CommonWealth Magazine)

As for the SMS, this kind of system is widely used in the airline industry, and it is also suitable for the high-speed railway and the subway in Taipei; it is not a new system at all. We began to promote it more than a year ago and hope to implement it at the grassroots level by the end of the year.

The TRA is an old, time-honored organization with a complex system. In the past, we relied on the transfer of knowledge from master to apprentice, but now we realize that there is a great deal of negligence. Through the SMS, we can understand and analyze the various risks, clearly designate hierarchical levels, and establish an SOP that our colleagues on the job must follow.

Q: The TRA started to promote the SMS more than a year ago, but the accident with Taroko Express Nr. 408 still happened. What is your take on that? What can be done to deliver on safety?

A: We are not doing enough regarding risk management and control.

Before the accident of Taroko Express No. 408, we had detailed countermeasures in place to guard against train crashes, train derailments, etc., and we managed and controlled risk and proposed improvements and ways to deal with such situations.

But our management of construction sites was poor. Such a severe accident definitely shows an unacceptable level of negligence.

Q: In the five months since the accident occurred, the TRA has proposed various safety reviews and improvement plans, specifically regarding the safety management at construction sites. How does this differ from the past？

A: In the past, construction projects were audited with a focus on whether they met the procurement regulations and whether the company that won the public tender carried out the project in accordance with the procurement contract. The colleagues in the Construction Works Quality Auditing Taskforce that we set up after the accident are required to conduct thorough site audits at the construction sites. On top of that, the task force includes members from other units within the TRA such as ethics and accounting who jointly conduct inspections. Where standards are not met, improvements are asked for. And whoever fails to fulfill their supervision responsibilities must be punished.

The audit results must be personally reviewed by the director-general and the deputy directors-general when flaws are found, and corrections are made with greater efficiency. Audits will be conducted more often, and the inspections will also be carried out more in-depth than previously.

Establishing coordination centers to connect horizontal communication

Q: After taking office, you put together several new task forces, for instance, to strengthen the horizontal communication between the four large departments – transportation, construction, rolling stock, and electrical engineering. How would you assess the results so far?

A: At the TRA, the system command chains are too long; they must be shortened. In the past, within the regional units, the transportation section chiefs were designated to set up a liaison office and to serve as its convener. But because transportation, construction, rolling stock, and electrical engineering are independent from each other, departmentalism could hardly be avoided when dealing with transportation matters. As a result, issues had to be reported to the head office and coordinated there.

In June, we established coordination centers in the north, center, south and east of Taiwan. Supervisors from the head office were directly appointed to serve as regional supervisors, whereas the respective section chiefs for transportation, construction, rolling stock, and electrical engineering are center members. Their position within the TRA hierarchy is high enough so that communication and coordination are more efficient, and they can supervise and check more quickly.

Regional management and operation are important areas of reform for the TRA. Presently, the coordination centers are task forces; if the Legislative Yuan passes the TRA organizational restructuring plan, the heads of the coordination centers will be able to give orders to the section chiefs, and they will be able to decide on the spot without having to first report back to the head office and asking for instructions, going through the entire hierarchy.

Corporatization to improve safety

Q: What is your stance on the corporatization of the TRA?

A: What’s the difference between the THSR (Taiwan High-speed railway) and the TRA? They (the THSR) are subject to corporate governance, which makes a difference when it comes to efficiency. Corporatization can bring new impulses. I believe that corporatization is the best road for the TRA to take. But we must not shelve safety reforms because of the planned corporatization.

Q: How do you envisage ideal railway services?

A: The TRA is an almost 100-year-old organization, one that failed to carry out systemic reforms to move with the times as the industry progressed. We only increased train speed and bought new rolling stock, but did not achieve the intended results in other areas; improvements are still being carried out for many items.

Safety is the top priority, second comes punctuality. Only if we achieve these two basic conditions can our services become better.

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Translated by Susanne Ganz
Edited by TC Lin
Uploaded by Jane Chen