Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) celebrated the arrival of its first batch of bullet trains at Kaohsiung Port yesterday.
"We're so excited about the coming of Taiwan's first high-speed trains, and we are confident that we can begin service as scheduled," THSRC chairwoman Nita Ing (殷琪) said during a ceremony at the port yesterday.
Two 700-T locomotives and 10 carriages arrived Monday night, with a combined length of 304m and combined weight of 503 tonnes. The units left Kobe, Japan, on May 18.
PHOTO: JESSIE HO, TAIPEI TIMES
The company has ordered 30 sets of bullet trains from Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries.
The second batch of trains is expected to arrive in July, and the remaining 28 sets are expected by September next year, THSRC spokesman Edward Lin (
THSRC will showcase one locomotive in the Hsiaokang District of Kaohsiung City tonight and transport the carriages to its main workshop in Yenchao township, Kaohsiung County, to be assembled on Saturday.
THSRC plans to start a yearlong trial in September on 60km of track between Tainan and Kaohsiung.
If the test goes smoothly, the white bullet trains with orange stripes will begin service between Taipei and Kaohsiung at the end of October next year and will boast speeds of up to 300kph.
Travel time between the two cities would be 90 minutes, while the Taipei-Taichung route would take 46 minutes.
While the 345km line is 60 percent complete and the main infrastructure 99 percent finished, there are concerns about whether the company has enough capital to finish the NT$513 billion railway.
Last year THSRC initiated a NT$21.7 billion fundraising plan, which would sell preferred shares with a guaranteed 9.5 percent dividend for the first two years. Ing said earlier this month that the company had raised only NT$2.9 billion.
Given the lukewarm response, the company is considering opening up the share sale to overseas investors, Ing said yesterday.
THSRC plans to raise NT$7.5 billion by July, NT$10.2 billion by September, and another NT$10 billion by November.
China Steel Corp (
"This is a good investment ... the risk of the investment dwindles with the completion of the project," China Steel chairman Lin Wen-yuan (
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
RSS