The long-awaited fast new EMU800 commuter trains are scheduled to launch its first services tomorrow, the nation’s railway operator said yesterday.
The trains successfully passed all safety tests.
Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) Deputy Director-General Chung Ching-da (鐘清達) said commuters between Keelung and Hsinchu, and between Chiayi and Pingtung, would be the first to enjoy the higher speeds of 130kph that the new trains offer.
Photo: CNA
In 2011, TRA purchased 296 EMU800 train carriages from Japan to meet rising demand.
“The trains will also replace some of the really old trains used for the Chukuang Express, which do not have automatic doors,” he said.
Chung said a further seven trains would be operational toward the end of the Lunar New Year holiday, with all train carriages to be in service by 2016.
TRA transportation department director Du Wei (杜微) said that every day 190,000 passengers travel between Keelung and Hsinchu, and 120,000 between Chiayi and Pingtung section.
Hsieh Ching-kuen (謝進崑), a section chief of TRA’s transportation department, said each eight-carriage set has 352 seats and can accommodate 910 standing passengers.
Hsieh said the foldable seats in carriages one and eight have been designed to make room for passengers in wheelchairs and cyclists, with larger, barrier-free toilets for passengers in wheelchairs.
Priority seats make up 25 percent of the total seats, which is 10 percent more than the legal requirement, he said, adding that the priority seats have handles on both sides, and the floor surrounding them is painted yellow with a high-friction surface.
Tang Feng-cheng (唐峰正), chairman of the Foundation of Universal Design Education, was yesterday invited to test ride the new train.
Tang, who survived polio, said the designs would give many people with disabilities the freedom to travel around the nation by train.
Access for All Association secretary-general Hsu Chao-fu (許朝富), another invited guest, said after boarding the train yesterday that he can easily push his wheelchair to a reserved spot and buckle up without assistance.
“In the past, you had all these safety belts around you, which made you look like you were strapped to the spot,” he said. “Now, all you have to do is buckle the wheelchair.”
However, Hsu added that the handles in the wheelchair zone were positioned too high.
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