High-speed rail firm denies it deferred supplier payments

The Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵) yesterday insisted that it had not deferred any payments to the Japanese-led Taiwan Shinkansen Corp (TSC, 台灣新幹線), and that the latter had no reason not to deliver the train carriages and core systems on time.

THSRC vice president of public affairs Arthur Chiang (江金山) made the remarks after his company received a TSC letter saying that it would suspend delivery of train carriages and core systems.

Chiang said that the TSC had already delivered 18 carriages and was scheduled to deliver three more next month. Thirty carriages are expected to be delivered before the launch of the high-speed rail system.

Chiang said his company had not delayed construction payments to the TSC and could also pay for next month's delivery.

As it was under contract, the TSU had no reason to suspend delivery, Chiang said. The THSRC would communicate with the TSC according to the terms of the contract, but it would not overreact, he added.

Chiang also said that the company's goal was to have the systems operational on Oct. 31, but the exact date was still being assessed and would be finalized by the end of August.

If there were any changes, the THSRC would report them, he said.

The 345km high-speed railway linking Taipei and Kaohsiung will connect eight metropolitan areas and have the ability to transport at least 300,000 passengers each day.

The multimillion-dollar railway system is Taiwan's first infrastructure project built under the build-operate-transfer model.