The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) yesterday said it would introduce a carriage for people traveling with young children on the Tzuchiang Express train service, adding that the carriage includes design features especially for children.
The TRA said that it is renovating 20 cabins on its push-pull trains to accommodate families with children.
The agency unveiled its first parent-children train cabin, and said it would start accepting group reservations for the cabin on July 17. A group must be a minimum of 12 people, including children and adults.
Photo: CNA
The cabin is to be linked to the Tzuchiang Express service from New Taipei City’s Shulin (樹林) to Taitung for the trial on July 30, and stop only at Taipei and Hualien railway stations.
After the trial ends on Oct. 29, group reservations will no longer be required.
Three more family carriages are expected be added to the Tzuchiang Express in November.
This is the first time that the agency has offered a family carriage, TRA Director-General Jason Lu (鹿潔身) said.
Adult tickets in the family cabin will cost 30 percent more than a regular ticket.
Tickets for children aged six to 12 will be 50 percent off the regular ticket price, while children under six years old can travel for free in the family cabin.
Each cabin will have 12 seats, the TRA said, adding that it expects the demand for the seats to be high.
The cabins would have a restroom, as well as a breastfeeding room, the agency said.
There would be four rows of seats in each cabin, with each row having two seats on one side and one seat on the other side, the TRA said.
The cabins would also have benches, low tables and space for strollers, it said.
The cabins would be decorated with child-friendly themes, but they would not have recreation areas due to safety reasons, it said.
While some countries have slides or other playground facilities in family cabins, they are on tourist trains that operate at a fixed speed, the agency said.
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