Passengers boarding the Puyuma Express from Taipei to Taitung from June 30 to July 4 will receive a 12 percent ticket discount to celebrate the launch of the electrified railway service between Hualien and Taitung.
The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said yesterday that it is scheduled to begin a two-week trial for the general public on June 30.
During the trial, there will be four Puyuma Express services to Taitung each day.
Photo: Yu Tai-lang, Taipei Times
The 12 percent discount will only be available in the trial’s first five days. Bookings open on June 16.
The agency estimates that about 7,000 passengers will use the electrified service during the trial.
The administration said it expects full services to start on July 16, including more Puyuma Express train services dispatched daily.
Previously, people heading to Taitung were required to transfer to diesel-powered trains at Hualien Station.
TRA Director-General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) said that the agency will lower the price of diesel-power services, with a new pricing scheme expected next month.
Lawmakers on the legislature’s Transportation Committee suggested that the line should set different prices across the wide range of services that use it.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) said that the agency’s Tzuchinag Express train service uses seven different train models, some of them much older than others.
He said that the agency should replace older models with new ones, adding that people using the Tzuchiang Express trains that are more than 20 years old should be offered discounts.
DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said that the agency should charge more on tickets for higher-speed services, while services with more stops should be priced more cheaply.
The new electrified railway route begins at Hualien Station and ends at Jiben (知本) Station in Taitung, a distance of about 166.1km.
DPP Legislator Liu Chao-hao (劉櫂豪) said that the government should increase the number of reserved tickets for residents of Taitung County.
The TRA said the electrified line trains can travel at speeds of 110kph to 130kph and estimated that travel time between Taipei and Taitung can be reduced from five hours to three-and-a-half hours.
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
TEMPORAL/SPIRITUAL: Beijing’s claim that the next Buddhist leader must come from China is a heavy-handed political maneuver that will fall flat-faced, experts said China’s requirement that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to be born in China and approved by Beijing has drawn criticism, with experts at a forum in Taipei yesterday saying that if Beijing were to put forth its own Dalai Lama, the person would not be recognized by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The experts made a remarks at the two-day forum hosted by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama titled: “The Snow Land Forum: Finding Common Ground on Tibet.” China says it has the right to determine the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, as it claims sovereignty over Tibet since ancient times,
Temperatures in some parts of Taiwan are expected to fall sharply to lows of 15°C later this week as seasonal northeasterly winds strengthen, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. It is to be the strongest cold wave to affect northern Taiwan this autumn, while Chiayi County in the southwest and some parts of central Taiwan are likely to also see lower temperatures due to radiational cooling, which occurs under conditions of clear skies, light winds and dry weather, the CWA said. Across Taiwan, temperatures are to fall gradually this week, dropping to 15°C to 16°C in the early hours of Wednesday
RSS