Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) celebrated the arrival of its first batch of bullet trains at Kaohsiung Port yesterday.
"We're so excited about the coming of Taiwan's first high-speed trains, and we are confident that we can begin service as scheduled," THSRC chairwoman Nita Ing (殷琪) said during a ceremony at the port yesterday.
Two 700-T locomotives and 10 carriages arrived Monday night, with a combined length of 304m and combined weight of 503 tonnes. The units left Kobe, Japan, on May 18.
PHOTO: JESSIE HO, TAIPEI TIMES
The company has ordered 30 sets of bullet trains from Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries.
The second batch of trains is expected to arrive in July, and the remaining 28 sets are expected by September next year, THSRC spokesman Edward Lin (
THSRC will showcase one locomotive in the Hsiaokang District of Kaohsiung City tonight and transport the carriages to its main workshop in Yenchao township, Kaohsiung County, to be assembled on Saturday.
THSRC plans to start a yearlong trial in September on 60km of track between Tainan and Kaohsiung.
If the test goes smoothly, the white bullet trains with orange stripes will begin service between Taipei and Kaohsiung at the end of October next year and will boast speeds of up to 300kph.
Travel time between the two cities would be 90 minutes, while the Taipei-Taichung route would take 46 minutes.
While the 345km line is 60 percent complete and the main infrastructure 99 percent finished, there are concerns about whether the company has enough capital to finish the NT$513 billion railway.
Last year THSRC initiated a NT$21.7 billion fundraising plan, which would sell preferred shares with a guaranteed 9.5 percent dividend for the first two years. Ing said earlier this month that the company had raised only NT$2.9 billion.
Given the lukewarm response, the company is considering opening up the share sale to overseas investors, Ing said yesterday.
THSRC plans to raise NT$7.5 billion by July, NT$10.2 billion by September, and another NT$10 billion by November.
China Steel Corp (
"This is a good investment ... the risk of the investment dwindles with the completion of the project," China Steel chairman Lin Wen-yuan (
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘ADDITIONAL CONDITION’: Taiwan will work with like-minded countries to protect its right to participate in next year’s meeting, the foreign ministry said The US will “continue to press China for security arrangements and protocols that safeguard all participants when attending APEC meetings in China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said yesterday, after Beijing suggested that members must adhere to its “one China principle” to participate. “The United States insists on the full and equal participation of all APEC member economies — including Taiwan — consistent with APEC’s guidelines, rules and established practice, as affirmed by China in its offer to host in 2026,” the unnamed spokesperson said in response to media queries about China putting a “one China” principle condition on Taiwan’s
RSS