Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp’s (THSRC) board of directors on Wednesday passed a resolution authorizing management to spend about NT$28.5 billion (US$930.4 million) to procure 12 sets of next-generation high-speed trains from the Hitachi Toshiba Supreme Consortium (HTSC).
The procurement of new trains has been planned since 2019 after taking into account various factors, from growth of transport volume to capacity to maintain and repair trains, flexibility in train deployment, and train occupancy rates on weekdays, weekends and holidays, THSRC said.
The deal was only finalized after the company held a public tender for the procurement for the third time in March last year, it said.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp via CNA
The first two tenders failed as the prices quoted by Japanese manufacturers were much higher than the market rate, the company said.
The board on Wednesday voted to grant the contract to HTSC after the company’s management reviewed tender documents prepared by contractors and engaged in multiple rounds of negotiations with companies that have priority negotiation rights, THSRC said.
Modeled after the N700S Shinkansen system, the next-generation high-speed trains would feature a more streamlined and energy-
saving design than the current 700T trains, the company said, adding that the new trains would travel faster and better serve passengers.
Each seat on the new train would be equipped with a 110V socket, and each train car would have an LCD panel to display information, double-deck luggage racks and other equipment, it said.
The agreement between THSRC and HTSC requires the contractor to begin delivering the new trains to Taiwan 42 months after it commences production, the railway operator said, adding that the first set should start operating 50 months after the project begins.
Local news media outlets reported that the first two tenders failed because Japanese contractors offered tenders of NT$5 billion per set of high-speed trains.
The deal was finalized after the price was halved to NT$2.3 billion, the reports said.
Last year, Japan-Republic of China Diet Members’ Consultative Council chairman Keiji Furuya raised the issue of THSRC’s procurement of new train cars from Japan at his meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英).
The high-speed rail system “is a symbol of solid friendship between Taiwan and Japan, for which the two countries must cooperate,” Furuya said.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
RSS