New EMU900 and EMU3000 trains are scheduled to arrive today at ports in Taichung and Hualien, the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said yesterday.
The delivery is part of the train operator’s project to upgrade its fleet with 520 EMU900 cars and 600 EMU3000 cars at a total cost of nearly NT$70 billion (US$2.5 billion). The TRA took delivery of the first cars last year and expects the last batch to arrive in 2024.
Today’s delivery includes the sixth batch of EMU900s, with 10 cars to arrive at the Port of Taichung, and the first batch of EMU3000s, with 12 cars to arrive at the Port of Hualien, the agency said.
Chen Shih-ben (陳詩本), head of the TRA’s rolling stock department, said that the manufacturer of the EMU900 had planned to deliver 140 cars this year, but only 100 would be delivered due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Since the middle of this month, four sets of EMU900s are transporting people between Keelung and Miaoli County on the nation’s longest commuter train route. We are testing the fifth set, which should be ready to start service by the middle of next month,” he said, adding that the EMU900s would mostly be used to serve commuter routes in northern Taiwan.
Seven batches of the EMU3000 are scheduled to arrive before the end of this year, including the one arriving today, Chen said, adding that the agency would start using three of the sets for intercity express services along the east coast on Jan. 1 next year.
“We are aiming to have five EMU3000s ready to be deployed by the Lunar New Year holiday next year,” he said.
The addition of new trains would allow the agency to retire more than 800 older train cars by 2024, Chen said.
“In the future, the agency will only have two types of train service: commuter service and intercity express service,” he said.
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