Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) has finally announced that it is to postpone the commencement of its service by one year. This comes as no big surprise, but it does serve to show that the project is far from complete. I, for one, would prefer it if the company ensured that everything was in place before they start operating the service. After all, it is not the postponement that concerns us, it is the question of whether the system will live up to the claims the company has made regarding safety, speed and smooth operation.
The contract between the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and THSRC states that the company is allowed to operate the railway for 35 years, including the construction stage. Therefore this one-year extension will cut into THSRC's profits, shortening the period in which they can recoup their initial outlay by 12 months; it does not actually infringe upon their contractual obligations.
The high-speed rail project, which uses the build, operate and transfer (BOT) model, has already generated much debate over its costs. Nevertheless, the whole country will indisputably profit from the convenience and economic benefits that the railway will bring. Therefore, we should approach this delay rationally.
According to a survey conducted by the ministry, the biggest concerns regarding the high-speed rail are accessibility and safety. The stations in Taipei are to be accessible from the MRT system, as they will be in Taichung and Tsoying (左營) -- the terminal stop in Kaohsiung. Other stations, however, will be outside the city centers.
Naturally, ease of access will influence whether people decide to use the service, and the convenience of transferring from one mode of transport to the high-speed railway is a crucial factor. This will not only require the creation of a road network, it will also need transport companies to offer routes serving the railway's stations.
In addition, the coordination of flights and the high-speed railway should be considered. At the moment most people rely on Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport (CKS) in Taoyuan when they go abroad. If passengers from the south wish to travel to CKS on the high-speed railway, they will need to lug their luggage to the nearest station, many kilometers away from the city center, take the train to Chingpu (
One way we can prepare for the opening of the high-speed rail, then, is to adopt a passenger-oriented service mentality and develop a coordinated system.
The delay also gives the THSRC extra time to conduct tests on, and monitor, problems that arise from the operation of machinery and coordination systems, and to test and modify operational and safety procedures. Protocols for emergency response, maintenance of passenger cars and tracks, and compensation for late services are key to the sustained development of the high-speed rail.
The THSRC has to make sure everything is in place if it is to avoid a plethora of system failures and the resulting fallout -- as happened in the initial stages of France's high-speed rail. Any incidents resulting from system errors or safety lapses can only cause THSRC problems.
Finally, the company needs to avoid relying entirely on technology transfers from abroad and should use this period to consult local experts from industry, government and academia. In this way, the company will be able to stand on its own two feet and even export its knowledge of high-speed railway operations in the future.
Cheng Yung-hsiang is an assistant professor in the department of logistics management at National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology.
Translated by Paul Cooper
US President Donald Trump last week told reporters that he had signed about 12 letters to US trading partners, which were set to be sent out yesterday, levying unilateral tariff rates of up to 70 percent from Aug. 1. However, Trump did not say which countries the letters would be sent to, nor did he discuss the specific tariff rates, reports said. The news of the tariff letters came as Washington and Hanoi reached a trade deal earlier last week to cut tariffs on Vietnamese exports to the US to 20 percent from 46 percent, making it the first Asian country
As things heated up in the Middle East in early June, some in the Pentagon resisted American involvement in the Israel-Iran war because it would divert American attention and resources from the real challenge: China. This was exactly wrong. Rather, bombing Iran was the best thing that could have happened for America’s Asia policy. When it came to dealing with the Iranian nuclear program, “all options are on the table” had become an American mantra over the past two decades. But the more often US administration officials insisted that military force was in the cards, the less anyone believed it. After
On Monday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) delivered a welcome speech at the ILA-ASIL Asia-Pacific Research Forum, addressing more than 50 international law experts from more than 20 countries. With an aim to refute the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) claim to be the successor to the 1945 Chinese government and its assertion that China acquired sovereignty over Taiwan, Lin articulated three key legal positions in his speech: First, the Cairo Declaration and Potsdam Declaration were not legally binding instruments and thus had no legal effect for territorial disposition. All determinations must be based on the San Francisco Peace
During an impromptu Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally on Tuesday last week to protest what the party called the unfairness of the judicial system, a young TPP supporter said that if Taiwan goes to war, he would “surrender to the [Chinese] People’s Liberation Army [PLA] with unyielding determination.” The rally was held after former Taipei deputy mayor Pong Cheng-sheng’s (彭振聲) wife took her life prior to Pong’s appearance in court to testify in the Core Pacific corruption case involving former Taipei mayor and TPP chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲). The TPP supporter said President William Lai (賴清德) was leading them to die on
RSS