Coming down the line

This article was written by Kelly Her and published by the Taiwan Review on September 1, 2007. It features the launch of Taiwan's high-speed rail link in June 2007.

Costing NT$480 billion (US$15 billion) and taking eight years to build, the high-speed railway is the world's biggest build-operate-transfer (BOT) project. It covers 345 kilometers and runs at a top speed of 300 kilometers per hour.

According to the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC), the new line links the major cities along Taiwan's western corridor and slashes travel time between Taipei in the north and Kaohsiung in the south from four hours by conventional rail or highway vehicles to just 90 minutes.

More importantly, to enhance its services, THSRC has increased the number of trains from an initial 19 per day in each direction to 25 in March, and to 31 in June. The total number of passengers carried is projected to hit 10 million in September 2007, when the number of daily services will expand to 61 in each direction.

The rolling stock consists of 12 carriages per train, capable of accommodating a total of 989 passengers in one business and 11 economy carriages. Each carriage offers luggage storage and access for wheelchair users and handicapped passengers. Indeed, the high-speed railway is poised to become the backbone of Taiwan's west coast transportation system.

Industry experts say that it will take at least one to two years to ascertain the reliability of the rail system. There are still a few problems that THSRC need to solve. For example, the company needs to upgrade its ticketing services by providing online booking. It also needs to adopt a flexible pricing strategy by reducing fares during off-peak hours. The current price for a one-way ticket from Taipei to Kaohsiung costs NT$1,490 (US$45).

For the time being, THSRC's drivers and traffic controllers are of different nationalities and are required to use English for communication. This may sometimes cause misunderstandings and consequently operational risks. The company needs to train more Taiwanese drivers. It also needs more business focus in order to provide the best domestic and intercity services.

Outside of THSRC, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications needs to exercise its supervisory function by conducting regular evaluations of the company's performance. The government also needs to improve the efficiency of connections between the high-speed rail stations and downtown areas by building mass rapid transit (MRT), light-rail transport (LRT0 or bus links. Indeed, THSROC and the government need to work together and integrate different transport tools in order to offer seamless connection for intercity transit.

Other experts point out that Taiwan's high-speed rail link, as a mammoth BOT project, demonstrates how the government and the private company involved can share their tasks and responsibilities and benefit each other. So far, a number of overseas groups have paid fact-finding ours to Taiwan to study the system.

About 94 percent of Taiwan's 23 million people inhabit the western corridor, which is about 400 kilometers long from north to south. Given this kind of demography, railway transportation should be the most cost-effective mode when compared with airlines and highway transportation. Under these circumstances, the introduction of the high-speed railway can serve to consolidate the domestic transportation network while accelerating the development of the cities and counties along its route. The railway is likely to substantially affect the way Taiwanese live, work and play in the near future. In particular, the three metropolises of Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung are expected to be combined into two metropolitan regions -- Taipei-Taichung and Taichung-Kaohsiung.

In order to ensure the safety and quality of services, industry experts suggest that THSRC should conduct frequent safety tests on its rail system and attend to civil engineering problems, such as the structural integrity of the pylons on which raised portion of track run and possible land subsidence. In terms of software, apart from improving its ticketing operation by expanding it to telephone and Internet booking, the company needs to provide efficient and integrated services by teaming up with other transport or entertainment facility operators to create preferential packages or all-in-one tickets.

Industry experts also suggest that the Ministry of Transportation and Communications needs to work closely with local governments to develop the areas surrounding the high-speed rail stations, in order to provide passengers with other services and boost local economies. More importantly, the government needs to address the obvious impact of the opening of the high-speed railway on other transport operators. All current regulations on public transport, such as fares, routes and the daily number of runs need to be examined in order to avoid unfair competitions and wastes of resources.

According to THSRC, although the Taiwan High Speed Rail 700T train units were developed from Japan's Shinkansen technology, they have been considerably redesigned for Taiwan's conditions. Factors such as Taiwan's climate, geography, user habits, traffic rules and future development of public transport systems have all been taken into account. Indeed, Taiwan's geography, which has a lot of mountains and few plains and in which natural disasters like earthquakes and typhoons are frequent, is very similar to Japan's. This why THSRC decided to adopt Japan's Shihkansen core system over the European InterCity Express.

According to THSRC, in order to better adjust to Taiwan's unique conditions, a variety of safety features have been added to the bullet trains. These include automatic train protection, three independent braking systems, emergency lighting and ventilation, and high crash-resistant body structures. Devices that can detect unusual operating conditions in the wake of earthquakes, high winds, flooding and landslides have also been installed. An operation control center has been built to monitor and operate the rail line using state-of-the-art artificial intelligence.

According to THSRC, the express trains run on their own custom-built tracks, with the bulk of the system elevated and all of it unhindered by level crossings, thereby eliminating the risk of collision with another vehicle. The elevated sections are designed with special earthquake-resistant viaduct supports.

According to THSRC, the high-speed railway is eco-friendly because it uses a third of the land required for building two parallel national freeways. Because it runs on electricity, it causes less air pollution than the cars, buses and planes making the same journey.

In response to the aforementioned issue of communications between THSRC's drivers and traffic controllers, the company claims that it has been training Taiwanese drivers and plans to switch the entire system to spoken Chinese and Chinese-language computer displays in about three years. Currently, 80 percent of the company's staff in the operation control center and the majority of the maintenance workers are Taiwanese. By July 2007, after receiving more than 1,000 hours of professional training, nine Taiwanese drivers had passed the government's certification tests and joined THSRC's operations. An estimated 107 Taiwanese drivers are expected to have completed training in the next 12 months.

According to THSRC, since March 2007, the high-speed railway's passenger load has enjoyed a monthly increase of about 15 percent. The passengers travel an average of 230 kilometers per trip and belong to the category of medium- to long-distance travel.

In the near future, THSRC plans to foster cooperation with the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) for short-haul connection services. It will also work with travel agencies and big enterprises through discounts and special booking channels in order to promote domestic tourism and facilitate business activities. Apart from increasing the number of ticketing vending machines and sales counters in the train stations, the company is now conducting final tests on the online and automatic voice reservation systems. These systems are scheduled to begin functioning in two months.

Finally, THSRC is studying the feasibility of offering discounts to students in the form of monthly tickets and non-reserved seats during off-peak hours. The company is also soliciting more businesses such as fast food shops, convenience stores and bookstores to operate in its stations. Developers are also approached to construct convention centers, shopping malls and office buildings near the rail stations.