The first two sets of EMU800-model commuter trains are scheduled to arrive from Japan at the end of next month, the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said yesterday, adding that the new trains would become operational before the Lunar New Year holiday.
The nation’s largest railway operator yesterday unveiled photographs of the new trains at its headquarters at Taipei Railway Station.
TRA Deputy Director-General Lu Chieh-shen (鹿潔身) said the new trains can operate at speeds of up to 130kph. The maximum speed of the commuter trains currently in use is 110kph.
Lu said the trains’ seat covers are woolen. While the law only requires 15 percent of the seats on a train to be designated as priority seating, he said that 25 percent of the seats on the new train are priority seats.
The first and the eighth cabins of the new trains can be used by cyclists traveling with their bicycles, with each cabin able to accommodate eight bicycles at a time.
The exteriors of the new commuter trains are decorated in silver, blue and yellow. The yellow line on the front of the locomotives resembles a crescent moon, or a smile.
In 2011, the state-run railway agency contracted state-run Taiwan Rolling Stock Co (TRSC) to build 296 EMU800 commuter train carriages, with the first batch of 16 carriages to be built in Japan and the remainder to be built in Taiwan.
A dispute over what brake system to install in the new trains delayed the delivery of the first 16 carriages, which were supposed to arrive in September last year.
Lu said the first batch of carriages would be divided into two sets and would undergo a 90-day testing period after they arrive, adding that an independent third party would review the operation of the new trains to certify that they meet legal requirements, standards and users’ needs.
Lu said the new trains would help increase the administration’s transport capacity for commuters between Keelung and Hsinchu, which account for about 70 percent of its daily passenger volume. The new trains will also enable the TRA to retire some of its old trains and increase train services heading to the east coast after the section between Hualien and Taitung is electrified.
Because the new commuter trains are faster, Lu said that it is considering offering a commuter express service that would only make stops at bigger stations during peak hours.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS