The high-speed rail system will increase the number of scheduled runs and purchase new trains next year to cope with increasing passenger volume, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) executive director Ou Chin-der (歐晉德) said on Thursday.
THSRC would increase the number of scheduled trains after Lunar New Year, which falls on Jan. 26, as the system’s passenger capacity after the holiday was expected to exceed 50 percent, Ou said.
The exact number of additional runs would be announced at a later date, he said.
At present, the system carries an average of 90,000 passengers per day, with a train capacity between 45 percent and 47 percent.
The system has a total of 30 trains that operate a maximum of 176 two-way runs per day, Ou said, adding that the ceiling was very likely to be reached at the end of next year.
Passenger volume was expected to have reached between 140,000 and 150,000 per day by that time, with a possible maximum volume of 176,000, and was likely to hit 200,000 during peak hours in 2010, he said.
To cope with the continuous increase in passenger volume, THSRC would buy between six and 12 new trains from Japan next year.
THSRC would also consider the possibility of working with Taiwanese companies on the interior design of the trains if sufficiently skilled local designers could be found, Ou said, adding that the new trains would start operating in 2011.
The new trains would be part of a long-term THSRC purchase project that was being carried out in several phases with the aim of increasing the number of trains to 54 by 2033, Ou said.
The system would also focus on attracting passengers by providing better quality service rather than by offering more discounts, as some tickets were already discounted to the tune of 35 percent, Ou said.
Further price cuts would undermine THSRC’s financial management as well as endanger the bus transport industry, the THSRC executive said.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS