The Taiwan Railway Administration yesterday said that South Korean companies will be banned from bidding on railway projects until the company Rotem -- part of the Hyundai Motor Group -- completes an outstanding contract for railway passenger carriages.
"Their failure to fulfill their contract has led to serious shortages affecting the distribution of Tsu Chiang-class trains," said Lee Ching-tsun (
Lee, accompanied by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Wei-cher (
He said that the administration purchased 400 passenger carriages for Tsu Chiang-class trains from the company in 1993, when it was called Hyundai Precision and Industrial Co Ltd.
Along with the contract to build the train carriages, the firm was also responsible for after-sale services and related maintenance work on the cars.
The company has since changed its name twice, and is now called Rotem.
The company began to withdraw technicians from Taiwan in 2000. The official said this created a shortage of manpower for maintenance, resulting in slow repair and maintenance work for Tsu Chiang-class cars. This creates serious delays for passengers, he said.
"To maintain public safety, we will continue to negotiate with the company and try to ask them to fulfill the contract, or we will ban South Korean companies for all kinds of bids in the future," Lee said.
The Tsu Chiang-class train is currently the fastest, but also the most expensive train type in Taiwan.
A total of nine different models are used as Tsu Chiang-class trains, and all were made in different countries.
The model that Lee was referring to has locomotives that were made in South Africa, while its cars are made in both South Korea and Taiwan. The model has been in service since 1996.
Top speed for the series is 130kph.
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