Taiwan's first high-speed rail system will not start service at the end of next month as scheduled, as construction of its core mechanical and electrical system has fallen seriously behind schedule, the company managing the project said yesterday.
"We will announce the new timetable after a meticulous evaluation by our board members," said Ted Chia (
At the end of July, THSRC had completed 87.89 percent of the 345km track, 92 percent of station constructions and only 60.44 percent of the core mechanical and electrical system, which has become the major cause for the postponement, Chia said.
The core mechanical and electrical system may be completed only by September next year, according to a Chinese-language newspaper report. In addition, THSRC needs at least two months of trial operation and five months of inspection by the Taiwan High Speed Rail Bureau, under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications. As a result, the high-speed railway may only be launched 18 months after the originally planned date.
While demanding that the Japanese-led Taiwan Shinkansen Corp (TSC, 台灣新幹線) -- contractor for the core mechanical and electrical system's construction -- accelerate production, THSRC also plans to demand that the Japanese consortium abide by the terms of the contract. According to the contract, in the event of falling behind schedule, TSC would have to pay THSRC NT$200 million per day in compensation and to cover interest losses until the construction is completed, a Chinese-language news report said yesterday.
The report also said that TSC has proposed additional terms when THSRC requested it to speed up construction.
The consortium of seven Japanese companies -- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, Toshiba Corp, Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd, Mitsui & Co, Mitsubishi Corp, Marubeni Corp and Sumitomo Corp -- won the contract for this project in 2000.
The report, citing company supervisor Huang Che-hung (
Chia yesterday confirmed that TSC made additional requests, but said the content of the contract and the terms should remain confidential. Chia declined to comment on the amount of NT$200 million compensation per day, saying the number is merely an estimate touted by the media.
He did not comment on suggestions in the report that the postponement was ultimately the product of a long-standing disagreement between THSRC and TSC over certain technical problems associated with the core mechanical and electrical system. He said that the two companies are negotiating a solution to these problems.
Jack Hsu (許俊逸), a deputy director general of the Bureau of High Speed Rail, said the bureau has not yet received THSRC's formal notice about the postponement. He said the company needs to absorb the losses incurred by the delay itself, since it is a build-operate-transfer project.
According to the contract, THSRC needs to return the transportation facility to the government 35 years after the contract was signed in July 1998, Hsu said.
THSRC previously estimated that it can show ticket revenue of about NT$130 million per day during the initial stages of operation. Since the project has been delayed, it means it will now take longer for the company to break even.
The high-speed railway passed a 200kph test drive at the end of last month and is likely to have a successful 300kph test next month, Chia said.
This project marks the first use of Japan's Shinkansen system outside that country as well as the first time Japanese bullet trains have been exported.
TEMPORARY TRUCE: China has made concessions to ease rare earth trade controls, among others, while Washington holds fire on a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods China is effectively suspending implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminating investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced. The White House on Saturday issued a fact sheet outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Under the deal, China is to issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers
Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data center projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically made artificial intelligence (AI) chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In recent weeks, Chinese regulatory authorities have ordered such data centers that are less than 30 percent complete to remove all installed foreign chips, or cancel plans to purchase them, while projects in a more advanced stage would be decided on a case-by-case basis, the sources said. The move could represent one of China’s most aggressive steps yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure amid a
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ￥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
RSS