Travelers can start booking tickets for Taiwan Railways Administration’s (TRA) new tourist train on April 1, the railway operator said at a product launch yesterday.
Reporters were invited onboard to check out one of the new trains, which was equipped with a dining car, a lounge car and business-class train cars.
The agency started renovating the Chukuang-class train cars, which have been in use for almost 18 years, in March last year and spent about NT$79 million (US$2.56 million) to convert them into tourist train cabins, said TRA Director-General Chang Cheng-yuan (張政源), who served as conductor for the day.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The agency now has 20 business-class train cars, six dining cars and three lounge cars.
It is also partnering with ezTravel to market the service, Chang said.
Families and companies planning a group tour can take advantage of the tourist train service, which would fit their needs perfectly, Chang said, adding that international visitors could board the train and experience the rail tour themselves.
The train also offers other services and facilities, including charging stations for smartphones, karaoke lounges and nursing rooms.
Speaking of the agency’s diversification plans, Chang said the TRA is to set up an asset development center next month, in line with its objective to have non-railway-related businesses account for 50 percent of its revenue by 2024.
Ticket sales accounted for about 80 percent, or NT$23 billion, of its revenue last year, while non-railway related businesses contributed NT$4.56 billion, TRA data showed.
One of the agency’s recent successes is turning an old facility — the Sinfong Railway Station in Hsinchu County — into a profit-generating machine by leasing the old station building to Starbucks Coffee.
The agency is also finding other ways to better utilize its assets, such as outsourcing management of businesses at Taipei Railway Station to Breeze Center Corp under a renovate-operate-transfer business model.
Additionally, the TRA has a property in Taipei’s Nangang District (南港) that is open to bidding from interested developers, while a hotel inside New Kaohsiung Railway Station is soon to be completed.
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