Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) Director-General Tu Wei (杜微) said that ticket prices for railway train services could increase in the second half of next year, in the wake of the agency being restructured as a state-run company on Jan. 1.
Tu, who is set to chair the planned Taiwan Railways Corp, spoke to the media on Saturday and said the company’s board is expected to discuss a plan to raise ticket fares during the first quarter of next year.
If the plan is approved, ticket prices would be adjusted in the second half of next year at the earliest, Tu said.
Photo: Taipei Times file
TRA ticket fares have remained unchanged for 28 years.
The fare rate for each passenger is calculated on a per-kilometer basis, and the local train rate is NT$1.46 (US$0.05) per kilometer, while the Chu-Kuang Express train rate is NT$1.75 per kilometer and the Tze-Chiang Express train rate is NT$2.27 per kilometer, the TRA said.
An earlier TRA proposal for a price hike aimed for a 1 percent rate of return, with the per-kilometer rate for local trains to be increased by 27 percent to NT$1.86, while fares for Chu-Kuang Express trains would go up 15 percent to NT$2.02 and Tze-Chiang Express trains’ fares would increase by 11 percent to NT$2.53.
Tu said that after corporatization, the impact of fare adjustments on the new company’s operation would be small, as according to the statutes governing the establishment of the corporation, the government must cover any losses caused by policies.
It means that if the government decides not to implement fare increases to boost the firm’s revenue, it has to subsidize the difference between the proposed fare increase and the original fare, Tu said.
He was certain train services would run as normal during the Lunar New Year holiday, Tu said, adding that a widely-reported personnel shortage in key roles is to be addressed before the holiday in February next year.
There have been reports saying that more than 1,000 TRA employees could retire or resign in the first six months after corporatization to claim voluntary retirement and resignation incentives with a maximum of seven months’ salary available, leaving the company understaffed.
As of early last month, 978 of the company’s 16,326 employees had applied to quit in the first half of next year, including 374 who perform key duties as drivers, maintenance and repair workers, deputy station masters, train conductors and dispatchers, TRA statistics showed.
The TRA has revised its forecast for the number of employees expected to retire or resign during the period from 1,300 to 1,100, Tu said.
Train services would not be affected as the TRA has trained a number of new employees to fill key job vacancies before the end of next month, he added.
The TRA has also recruited more than 800 employees through the government’s special railway examination and many others through senior and junior civil-service examinations, as well as the TRA’s own recruitment process, he said, adding that the new employees would come onboard in February.
Tu said he believes it is possible to turn the agency’s operating performance around, as it would be more flexible, efficient and independent after its restructuring from a government agency into a state-run company.
TRA’s main short-term debt of about NT$170 billion is to be transferred to a special purpose fund established by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, and the losses incurred due to the execution of government policies are to be covered by the government, he said.
Taiwan Railways Corp would need to take out a bank loan of NT$5 billion in the period following its formation, but that is expected to be fully paid back in 2026 when the company starts to make profit, Tu said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
Many Chinese spouses required to submit proof of having renounced their Chinese household registration have either completed the process or provided affidavits ahead of the June 30 deadline, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. Of the 12,146 people required to submit the proof, 5,534 had done so as of Wednesday, MAC deputy head and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. Another 2,572 people who met conditions for exemption or deferral from submitting proof of deregistration — such as those with serious illnesses or injuries — have submitted affidavits instead, he said. “As long as individuals are willing to cooperate with the legal
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
The Ministry of Environment yesterday held a seminar in Taipei for experts from Taiwan and Japan to exchange their experiences on the designs and development of public toilets. Japan Toilet Association chairman Kohei Yamamoto said that he was impressed with the eco-toilet set up at Daan Forest Park, adding that Japan still faces issues regarding public restrooms despite the progress it made over the past decades. For example, an all-gender toilet was set up in Kabukicho in Tokyo’s Shinjuku District several years ago, but it caused a public backlash and was rebuilt into traditional men’s and women’s toilets, he said. Japan Toilet Association
RSS