This Train Crash Killed 49 People. It Didn’t Have to Happen.

A Times investigation found that systemic failures at a government agency contributed to Taiwan’s worst rail disaster in seven decades.

TAIPEI, Taiwan — It seemed at first like a freak accident. A contractor was navigating a sharp turn on a sand-packed road. He had been hired to shore up a steep hillside on Taiwan’s east coast — any falling debris could be a safety hazard to the trains that rushed by below. At the edge of the embankment, his truck got stuck. He and another worker tried to pull it free, using a cloth strap and an excavator. The strap snapped, and the truck tumbled down the hill onto the railway tracks.