Student indicted over high speed rail radio incident

Prosecutors yesterday indicted a university student accused of accessing Taiwan High Speed Rail’s radio communications system and sending a false alarm that prompted four trains to make emergency stops in April.

The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office sought a two-year prison sentence for the student, surnamed Lin (林).

A second man, surnamed Chen (陳), was indicted for allegedly helping Lin access the system.

Radio communication equipment and a laptop allegedly used to illegally access a high-speed rail network are pictured in an undated photograph.

Photo: Cheng Shu-ting, Taipei Times

Lin used a radio programmed with the system’s parameters to access its TETRA network — a digital radio standard used by railways and emergency services — at Taoyuan High Speed Rail Station at 10:27pm on April 5, prosecutors said.

At 11:23pm that day, while aboard a bus near Taichung High Speed Rail Station, he allegedly transmitted a “General Alarm” signal, they said.

The operations control system automatically relayed the warning to nearby trains, prompting the drivers of three passenger trains and one out-of-service train to manually apply their emergency brakes, they said.

The incident caused delays totaling 48 minutes, they added.

After receiving a report from railway police on April 13, investigators searched three locations associated with Lin on April 28, seizing radio equipment and electronic devices, they said.

Chen allegedly supplied the radio and the system parameters, but prosecutors found no evidence that he knew Lin intended to transmit the alarm.

Lin faces charges under the Railway Act (鐵路法) for allegedly exploiting vulnerabilities in a critical railway communications system and disrupting its operation.

Chen was charged under the Criminal Code with helping Lin gain access to the system.

Prosecutors said Lin acted out of curiosity about radio technology, but his actions disrupted railway operations and affected passengers’ rights.