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Taiwan High Speed Rail

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The Taiwan High Speed Rail (also known as the THSR) is Taiwan's high-speed rail network, running approximately from Taipei City to Kaohsiung City, which began operating on January 5, 2007. Adopting Japan's Shinkansen technology for the core system, the THSR uses the Taiwan High Speed 700T train, manufactured by a consortium of Japanese companies, most notably Kawasaki Heavy Industries. The total cost of the project is currently estimated to be US$15 billion, and is one of the largest privately funded transport schemes to date. Express trains capable of travelling at up to travel from Taipei City to Kaohsiung City in roughly 90 minutes as opposed to 4.5 hours by conventional rail, although local service THSR trains take approximately two hours when stopping at all stations en route. Currently, the CEO of Taiwan High Speed Rail is Nita Ing (殷琪).

History

The first plans for a high speed rail line linking the cities of Taipei and Kaohsiung were proposed in a Ministry of Transportation study in 1990. They were then approved by the Executive Yuan in 1992 and the Legislative Yuan in 1993. The decision to pursue a Build-Operate-Transfer method was also approved. After a prolonged bidding process, the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC) was formally established in May 1998.

The European InterCityExpress (ICE) was initially selected to form the core system of THSR. In 1998, ICE saw the Eschede train disaster in which more than one hundred people died and another hundred were severely injured. Combined with the Chi-Chi earthquake on 21 September 1999, it was decided to adopt Japan's Shinkansen technology instead of ICE due to Shinkansen's "UrEDAS" (Urgent Earthquake Detection and Alarm System, ユレダス) earthquake detection system, developed in 1992.

Actual construction began in March 2000, with running tests starting in January 2005. In late October 2005, Taiwan High Speed Rail passed its targeted speed of 300 km/h (186 mph) to 315 km/h (197 mph) during testing.

Trial runs between Banciao (Taipei) and Zuoying (Kaohsiung), open to the public and with half-price fares, began to operate 19 times daily in each direction starting January 5, 2007. The HSR platforms at Taipei Main Station opened on March 2, 2007., bringing the entire line into operation.

Some of the same Japanese companies won another project in December 2005 to build a high speed rail link to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, with the exception of the signaling system which has been awarded to Westinghouse Rail Systems.

Controversy

The project is funded by private means, billed as the largest Build-Operate-Transfer project in the world, but the development corporation THSRC consistently failed to meet its funding targets on time. The project has also been dogged by repeated controversy, including allegations of poor quality construction, claims of unresolved safety concerns (due to three derailments during the tests in early November 2006) by THSRC oppositions, and the one year long delay. .

Supporters of the project believe THSR will help relieve traffic congestion along the heavily traveled western corridor, while having the advantages of greater safety, high transit volume, low land occupancy, energy economy and low pollution. It has also been argued that the THSR will help promote the balanced development of western Taiwan.

Despite pre-opening doubts, the rail line has reduced much of the Western Taiwan domestic air traffic due to its popularity.

Services

All trains stop at Taipei, Banciao and Taichung stations, but there are several service patterns for other stations.

  • Train numbers 1xx: Taipei to Zuoying, stops at Banciao, Taichung only
  • Train numbers 2xx: Taipei to Zuoying, stops at Banciao, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan
  • Train numbers 3xx: Taipei to Zuoying, stops at Banciao, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung
  • Train numbers 4xx: Taipei to Zuoying, stops at all stations, local service.
  • Train numbers 5xx: Taipei to Taichung, stops at all intermediate stations, local service.

Economy and business classes compartments are available aboard each train, with the latter offering wider seating, individual audio entertainment systems and power outlets for portable electronics in each seat, as well as a WiFi network.

Ridership

Original estimates foresaw an initial daily ridership of 180,000, which would grow to 400,000 by 2036. The initial ridership estimate was later reduced to 140,000 per day.

However, operation of high-speed service did not start at full capacity: train frequency was to be ramped up from an initial 19 per direction per day to 61 per direction per day during 2007, and to 88 per direction per day by March 2008. In 2007, the number of daily train pairs was increased from 19 to 25 in April, to 31 in June, to 37 in July, to 45 in September, to 56 in November, and to 63 by December.

On June 3, 2007, there were 5 million cumulative passengers, and on September 26, 2007, the 10 millionth passenger boarded.. In the month of September 2007, THSRC carried 1.5 million passengers, growing further to 1.66 million in November and 2 million in December 2007, the latter translating to about 65,000 passengers daily.

In the first year of operation, until December 31, 2007, THSRC's trains were 99.46% on-time, and carried 15.55 million passengers.

Revenue

The operational break-even level of NT$1 billion was reached in April. In the first nine months, revenue was NT$9.19 billion, and THSRC expects to become profitable by 2009.

January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007
NT$598 million NT$670 million NT$870 million NT$1.03 billion NT$1.15 billion

In its first year, THSRC made revenues of NT$14 billion by selling 15.79 million tickets. With more circulations and a seat occupation increased from 44.72% in 2007 to around 60%, THSRC expects to double its revenue in 2008.

Stations

Thirteen Taiwan High Speed Rail stations were planned in the western corridor, with eight stations already open in Taipei, Banciao, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan and Zuoying. Five more stations (in Nangang, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin and Kaohsiung) will be built in future years.

Station distance(km) stopping pattern connection location
Nangang (future) 0.0 Taiwan Railway Administration - Western Line
Taipei Rapid Transit System - Bannan Line 		Taipei City Nangang district
Taipei 9.7 ● ● ● ● ● Taiwan Railway Administration - Western Line (Taipei Main Station)
Taipei Rapid Transit System - Danshui Line, Bannan Line, Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Access MRT System 		Zhongzheng District
Banciao 17.5 ● ● ● ● ● Taiwan Railway Administration
Taipei Rapid Transit System - Banciao Line, Circular Line 		Taipei County Banciao City
Taoyuan 42.2 ｜ ｜ ● ● ● Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Access MRT System
Taoyuan MRT System - Blue Line (under construction) 		Taoyuan County Jhongli City
Hsinchu 72.1 ｜ ｜ ● ● ● Taiwan Railway Administration - Lìujiā Line (tentative) Hsinchu County Jhubei City
Miaoli (future) 104.8 ｜ ｜ ｜ ｜ ｜ Taiwan Railway Administration - Taichung Line (Fongfu) Miaoli County Howlong Town
Taichung 165.7 ● ● ● ● ● Taiwan Railway Administration - Western Line (New Wurih Station)
Taichung Metropolitan Area MRT System - Green Line (planned) 		Taichung County Wurih Town
Changhua (future) 193.8 ｜ ｜ ｜ ｜ Taiwan Railway Administration - Western Line (New Tianjhong Station) Changhua County Tiánjhong Town
Yunlin (future) 218.4 ｜ ｜ ｜ ｜ Yunlin County Huwei Town
Chiayi 251.5 ｜ ● ｜ ● Chiayi Bus Rapid Transit Chiayi County Taibao City
Tainan 313.8 ｜ ● ｜ ● Taiwan Railway Administration - Shālún Line (tentative) Tainan County Gueiren Town
Zuoying 345.2 ● ● ● ● Taiwan Railway Administration - Western Line (New Zuoying Station)
Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit - Red Line (under construction) 		Kaohsiung City Zuoying District
>Kaohsiung (future) Taiwan Railway Administration - Western Line, Pingtung Line
Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit - Red Line, Green Line (Light Rail) 		Sanmin District

Train Simulator

A Taiwan High Speed Rail simulator, known as Railfan: Taiwan High Speed Rail, was developed by Taiwan-based company Actainment and produced by the Japanese publisher Ongakukan in 2007. The software was released on the PlayStation 3 system in Asia (Hong Kong, Taiwan & Singapore) and later in Japan as part of the popular Train Simulator series.

Gallery

Trains

Stations

See also

References

Further reading

  • Hood, Christopher P. (2006). Shinkansen – From Bullet Train to Symbol of Modern Japan. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-32052-6 (hb) or ISBN 0415444098. (pb)

External links



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Last updated on Thursday March 13, 2008 at 00:44:35 PDT (GMT -0700)
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