Most railway services restored to normal after typhoon

Taipei, Aug. 9 (CNA) Railway and high-speed rail services around Taiwan that were disrupted by Typhoon Lekima have been restored to normal except for Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) service in northeastern Taiwan and on smaller branch lines.

As of Friday afternoon, train service between Hualien and Qidu in Keelung in the northeast and the Pingxi, Shen'ao, and Neiwan branch lines in the north remained out of service, according to the TRA.

As of Friday noon, meanwhile, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. announced that high-speed rail service north of Taichung had resumed after being suspended Thursday evening as a precaution against the approaching typhoon.

The company also added trains Friday covering the entire high-speed rail line from Taipei's Nangang to Kaohsiung's Zuoying, starting at 1:30 p.m.

As of 2 p.m. Friday, Lekima was located about 240 kilometers north-northeast of Taipei, moving at a speed of 16 kilometers per hour (kph) in a northwesterly direction toward China, according to Central Weather Bureau data.

The storm, the ninth Pacific storm this year, was packing maximum sustained winds of 173 kph, with gusts of up to 209 kph, the data showed.

The weather bureau said Lekima had weakened and was no longer a major threat to Hualien, Taichung, Hsinchu and Miaoli, leading it to lift its land warnings for these counties and cities, the bureau said.

The threat of the typhoon also led to the cancellation of 347 flights and delays to another 138 flights at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport between Thursday and Friday at 7:30 a.m., according to the company that operates the airport.

The company advised travelers to get confirmation of their flights from airlines before heading to the airport.