The number of high-speed rail passengers hit a record-high 73.03 million last year due to a strong recovery in railway travel following the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) said yesterday.
The increase in demand for high-speed rail services translated to NT$49.8 billion (US$1.6 billion) in revenue last year, an all-time record, THSRC business senior vice president Calvin Yen (顏昭立) told reporters
Meanwhile, pretax net profit reached NT$9.7 billion, the highest since the high-speed rail company began operations in 2007.
Photo: CNA
Aside from commuters and business travelers, the high-speed rail operator attracted 4.02 million passengers last year who boarded for tourism purposes, Yen said.
In response to the robust growth in ridership, the company increaseed its weekly train services from 1,039 last year to 1,060 this year, he added.
“However, we have noticed that the average daily passenger volume during the Lunar New Year holiday was about 310,000, which has returned to normal,” he said.
Despite significant growth in passenger volume and revenue, the operational costs of high-speed rail services also increased last year, Yen said.
The system’s maintenance costs rose to NT$2.9 billion last year, up from NT$2.7 billion in 2022, while personnel costs jumped 19 percent to NT$6.2 billion last year, Yen said.
Taiwan Power Co’s electricity fee adjustment last year increased the company’s electricity expenses by NT$300 million annually.
The state-run power firm on Monday announced that an overall price hike is expected in April.
Asked whether the company is planning to raise ticket prices given the rising costs, Yen said that any adjustment in ticket price would require taking into account various factors as well as approval from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
“We would first assess how a ticket price adjustment could affect the public before making any proposal,” he said.
Any new discounts available to THSRC members would be to maximize revenue, rather than to reduce it, Yen said.
“While discounts might increase the number of passengers accessing the high-speed rail and ease the congestion in peak hours by moving some of the passengers to off-peak hours, there might be a decline in revenue if discounts do not lead to a significant rise in passengers,” Yen said, adding that it would review the discounts available to THSRC members.
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