Taiwan High Speed Rail
Taiwan High Speed Rail is a high-speed railway network in Taiwan, which consists of a single line that runs approximately along the western coast of the island, from Taipei in the north to the southern city of Kaohsiung. Its construction was managed by a private company, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation, which also operates the line. The total cost of the project was billion in 1998. The system's technology is based primarily on Japan's Shinkansen.
The railway opened for service on 5 January 2007, with trains running at a top speed of. Trains make the trip from Nangang to Zuoying in as little as 1 hour and 45 minutes. Most intermediate stations on the line lie outside the cities served; however, a variety of transfer options, such as free shuttle buses, conventional rail, and metros have been constructed to facilitate transport connections.
Ridership initially fell short of forecasts, but grew from fewer than 40,000 passengers per day in the first few months of operation to over 129,000 passengers per day in June 2013. Daily passenger traffic reached 130,000 in 2014, well below the forecast of 240,000 daily passengers for 2008. The system had carried over 400 million passengers by December 2016.
In the initial years of operation, THSRC accumulated high debts due to high depreciation charges and interest, largely due to the financial structure set up for the private company. In 2009, THSRC negotiated with the government to change the method of depreciation from depending on concessions on rights to ridership. At the same time, the government also started to help refinance THSRC's loans to assist the company so it could remain operational and profitable. The government injected NT$30 billion as a financial bailout, boosting the government's stake to about 64% from about 37%. The government also extended the rail concession from 35 years to 70 years and terminated the company's build-operate-transfer business model.
History
during the latter half of the twentieth century led to congestion of highways, conventional rail, and air traffic systems in the western transport corridor, which threatened to impede the region's development. The idea of a new high-speed rail line arose in the 1970s, and informal planning began in 1980. In 1987, the executive branch of Taiwan's government, the Executive Yuan, instructed the Ministry of Transportation to launch a feasibility study for a high-speed rail line in the western Taiwan corridor, which was completed in 1990. The study found that in a comparison of potential solutions to traffic problems in the corridor, a high-speed rail line would offer the highest transit volume, lowest land use, highest energy savings, and least pollution. In July 1990 the Preparation Office of High Speed Rail was established and a route was selected in 1991. Plans for the THSR were subsequently approved by the Executive Yuan in June 1992 and by Taiwan's legislature, the Legislative Yuan, in 1993.Build-Operate-Transfer
In November 1994, Taiwan passed a law regarding the use of private finance in infrastructure projects, which also applied to the up-to-then state-run THSR project. Consequently, in 1995, POHSR was transformed into the Bureau of High Speed Rail, which started to tender THSR as a build-operate-transfer scheme in October 1996.The bidding process pitted Taiwan High Speed Rail Consortium against the Chunghwa High Speed Rail Consortium. THSRC's bid was based on the high-speed technology platform of Eurotrain, a joint venture between GEC-Alsthom, the main maker of the French TGV, and Siemens, the main maker of the German ICE, while CHSRC's bid was based on Japanese Shinkansen technology supplied by Taiwan Shinkansen Consortium, a joint venture of Japanese companies. THSRC, which submitted the lower bid and promised to build the line with zero net cost from the government, was chosen as the preferred bidder in September 1997. The group was renamed and formally established as the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation in May 1998. THSRC and the government signed the BOT agreement on 23 July 1998.
However, controversy arose during rolling-stock selection. In May 1999, as THSRC faced difficulties in raising capital, the government of Japan promised soft loans if THSRC switched to TSC. Although Eurotrain promised to match TSC's financial proposal, the Eschede train disaster in combination with TSC offering the newer 700 Series Shinkansen, convinced THSRC to reopen its core system bid, ultimately resulting in TSC selected as the preferred rolling-stock supplier in December 1999. Although Eurotrain eventually conceded in the bid, in February 2001 it filed for a US$800 million damage claim against THSRC at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre. After a lengthy arbitration process, the court ruled in March 2004 that THSRC should pay a compensation for the US$32.4 million Eurotrain spent on development and US$35.7 million for unjust enrichment. THSRC agreed to pay US$65 million to Eurotrain in November 2004.
Construction
Construction of the line by THSRC officially started in March 1999. Tunnels and other major civil engineering works were completed by 2004, along with the first delivery of the 700T trains. Testing and commissioning of the line then took place in 2005 and 2006, with a maximum testing speed of achieved in October 2005.Opening
The railway was opened in 2007, with limited commercial services between Banqiao and Zuoying stations from 5 January, with full service from Taipei Station to Kaohsiung from May 2007.Three additional stations located along the line – Miaoli, Changhua and Yunlin – opened in 2015.
Future plans
Southern extension
On 10 September 2019, the Executive Yuan announced that the railway would be expanded to Pingtung. Out of four proposed route options, it was confirmed on 27 September that the expansion would bypass central Kaohsiung, branching from Zuoying east towards western Pingtung City, near, with an estimated cost of NT$55.4 billion. Although lowest in cost, the option was met with criticism regarding its economic benefits.The extension to Pingtung was approved by Premier Su Tseng-chang in January 2023, with opening of the extension planned for 2029.
On 28 December 2024, Executive Yuan announced that the extension route would be altered to pass through the city centre with a stop at Kaohsiung Main Station.
Northern extension
The line was extended from Taipei to Nangang, opening in July 2016.On 25 October 2019, the Railway Bureau published an assessment report to extend the line further from Taipei to Yilan, cutting travel time to 13 minutes. The extension was approved in October 2020, and is planned to open by 2030.
Rolling stock
THSR 700T
Taiwan High Speed Rail started operations with 30 THSR 700T trainsets supplied by a consortium led by Kawasaki Heavy Industries. In response to increasing ridership and new stations that would begin operation in 2015, THSRC signed a contract for four new 700T trainsets with the Kawasaki consortium in May 2012 in Tokyo. The four additional trainsets were delivered to Taiwan by 12 August 2015.The THSR 700T trainset is based on the 700 Series Shinkansen trainset used by JR Central and JR West in Japan. This marked the first time Shinkansen technology was exported to a foreign country, and it involved "rolling stock derived from a JR Central design running on both the European and Japanese track systems." Customization was focused on adapting to Taiwan's climate and geography, and the nose shape was optimized for tunnels wider than those in Japan.
The maximum service speed of the trains was raised from the 700 Series Shinkansen's. The 12 cars of a 700T train are grouped in three traction units with three power cars and one trailer each, providing of power; both end cars are trailers to avoid slip on powered bogies. The train is long and has a mass of when empty. The trains have a passenger capacity of 989 seats in two classes: 66 seats in 2+2 configuration in the single Business Car and 923 seats in 2+3 configuration in the eleven Standard Cars. The per capita energy consumption of a fully loaded 700T train is 16% of that of private cars and half that of buses; carbon dioxide emissions are 11% of private cars and a quarter that of buses.
N700ST
In the late 2010s, THSRC began work to purchase additional high speed trains, in light of growing demand. Twelve trains were planned to order at a cost of around NT$30 billion, yet the limited number of Japanese companies that build Shinkansen rolling stock took several years for THSRC to agree a deal. In 2022, it was reported that THSRC was speaking to European train manufacturers instead, as the price offered by Japanese companies was "unreasonable".In March 2023, it was announced that a joint bid by Hitachi and Toshiba had been awarded the contract. Twelve trains were ordered at a cost of around NT$28 billion, which would be built based on the N700S Series, the latest generation of Shinkansen train at the time of order. The contract was officially signed in May, with a supplementary agreement concluded in March 2025. The first set of the new trains was expected to arrive at Taiwan in the second half of 2026, and would enter revenue service in the second half of 2027.
On 20 August 2025, the THSRC announced that the new trains are officially known as N700ST series. The THSRC further clarified that the first set of the new trains was expected to arrive at Taiwan in August 2026, where tests would take place thereafter.