In this Oct. 10, 2021, file photo, a woman holds up Taiwan national flags during National Day celebrations in front of the Presidential Building in Taipei, Taiwan. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

       TAIPEI (Kyodo) -- The driver of an express train that crashed in northeastern Taiwan in 2018, killing 18 people, was sentenced to four years and six months in prison on Monday for negligence causing death.

       Yu Chen-chung was found responsible by a local court in Yilan County of causing the derailment of the train by disabling its automatic train protection safety system, which prevents trains from speeding, and driving it at over 140 kilometers per hour, far in excess of the speed limit of 75 kph, when it came off the rails along a curve.

       The accident, which happened when the train was entering Hsinma Station in Yilan County, also injured 116 passengers.

       Two other employees of the train operator, Taiwan Railways Administration, had been indicted on charges of criminally negligent homicide. But they were found not guilty by the court as it could not link them to the cause of the accident.

       Taiwan saw another fatal train accident last April in which an express train of the Taiwan Railways Administration derailed in a tunnel in Hualien County in eastern Taiwan, killing 49 people.

       The state-run train operator has been saddled with problems including safety issues and mounting debt.

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