The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) yesterday inked an agreement with a private Japanese rail company to sell its famed pork-chop lunchboxes for a trial period in May.
TRA Director-General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) signed the deal with Keikyu Corp president Kazuyuki Harada, who heads the Minato, Tokyo-based Keikyu railway network.
Keikyu Corp also runs the Keikyu Department Store in Yokohama, and the pork-chop boxed meals are to be sold during a TRA promotion week at the store in May.
TRA general manager of catering Huang Cheng-chao (黃振照) said 5,000 lunchboxes would be produced by chefs from Taiwan’s Hsin Yeh restaurant chain.
The chefs have been taught how to prepare the pork chops and side dishes used in the TRA’s lunchboxes and the TRA will send representatives to monitor the preparation process in Japan, Huang said.
“We are planning to sell 5,000 pork chop boxed meals, including 3,000 in steel lunchboxes and 2,000 in paper boxes,” he said. “The bones in the pork chop will be removed to cater to Japanese tastes.”
The lunchbox promotion in the Keikyu Department Store is a trial run, and based on the response, the TRA will decide if it wants to make the boxes available on a regular basis, Huang said.
The Keikyu Corp agreement may serve as a model for other such ventures with Japanese railway operators, he said, adding that the TRA is planning on signing a similar pact this year with Seibu Railway, whose parent company, the Seibu Group, also owns department stores.
The agreement with Keikyo also covers materials promoting cooperation between the railways, including posters that will be displayed in TRA stations and stations along the Keikyu Line.
A special poster-wrapped train will operate on the Keikyu Line from March 9 to the end of May.
Keikyu Corp provides rail and bus services in Tokyo, Yokohama and the Miura Peninsula, including a rail line to Haneda airport.
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