The high-speed rail system will increase the number of scheduled runs and purchase new trains next year to cope with increasing passenger volume, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) executive director Ou Chin-der (歐晉德) said on Thursday.
THSRC would increase the number of scheduled trains after Lunar New Year, which falls on Jan. 26, as the system’s passenger capacity after the holiday was expected to exceed 50 percent, Ou said.
The exact number of additional runs would be announced at a later date, he said.
At present, the system carries an average of 90,000 passengers per day, with a train capacity between 45 percent and 47 percent.
The system has a total of 30 trains that operate a maximum of 176 two-way runs per day, Ou said, adding that the ceiling was very likely to be reached at the end of next year.
Passenger volume was expected to have reached between 140,000 and 150,000 per day by that time, with a possible maximum volume of 176,000, and was likely to hit 200,000 during peak hours in 2010, he said.
To cope with the continuous increase in passenger volume, THSRC would buy between six and 12 new trains from Japan next year.
THSRC would also consider the possibility of working with Taiwanese companies on the interior design of the trains if sufficiently skilled local designers could be found, Ou said, adding that the new trains would start operating in 2011.
The new trains would be part of a long-term THSRC purchase project that was being carried out in several phases with the aim of increasing the number of trains to 54 by 2033, Ou said.
The system would also focus on attracting passengers by providing better quality service rather than by offering more discounts, as some tickets were already discounted to the tune of 35 percent, Ou said.
Further price cuts would undermine THSRC’s financial management as well as endanger the bus transport industry, the THSRC executive said.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS