The first set of tilting trains arrived at the port of Keelung from Japan yesterday morning. The trains are to be used to serve passengers on the East Coast Line after three months of testing.
The new tilting train, named the “Puyuma Express,” is scheduled to be operational before the Lunar New Year holiday next year.
“Puyuma” means “united” in the language of Taitung County’s tribe of the same name. The name was chosen after the Taitung County Government and the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) launched a contest to name the new train.
The 16 train cars that arrived yesterday drew the attention of railway enthusiasts, who had waited at the pier before the ship arrived to capture the historic moment with their cameras.
The body of the new train car is mainly white, with red lines on the side of the car, as well as on the front of the locomotive. The red lines symbolize the totems of the nation’s Aboriginal tribes.
The railway service’s brand “TRA” is presented in cursive writing on the side of the train.
TRA Director-General Frank Fan (范植谷) said the new tilting train was built using an aluminum alloy and is equipped with seats that allow passengers to sit face-to-face, with a table in between them. Mothers and disabled passengers can access nursery rooms and multiple-use toilets on the trains.
Fan said the remaining 120 train cars are scheduled to be delivered by the end of next year. They could all be used to transport passengers during the Lunar New Year holiday in 2014, he said.
The TRA said the Puyuma Express could reach a maximum operating speed of 150kph, which would make it faster than the Taroko Express, the TRA’s existing tilting-train service.
With more new tilting trains and the electrification of the East Coast Line, the administration estimates that the line’s capacity will greatly expand in 2014, adding that the number of trains services to Hualien and Taitung could increase by more than 10 a day.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all