Taiwan Railway Corp is likely to post losses of NT$12 billion (US$367.31 million) this year, its first year as a state-owned corporation after having been a government agency for many decades.
The projected losses would exceed the company’s estimation of losses of more than NT$7.4 billion and the losses of NT$11.4 billion the former Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) posted last year.
The company’s core railway business is likely lose NT$13 billion, up NT$379 million year-on-year, Taiwan Railway data showed.
Photo: Wong Yu-huang, Taipei Times
It would also be saddled with an additional NT$2 billion in expenses that Taiwan Railway chairman Du Wei (杜微) said was needed to convert the former government agency into a commercial company.
The expenses included increasing the employee welfare fund to NT$2.3 billion from NT$1.2 billion as was originally budgeted, spending NT$600 million more than last year on railcar depreciation and paying NT$200 million in fees related to asset transfers, Du said.
The roughly NT$15 billion in losses were expected to be somewhat offset by an expected NT$3.39 billion from side businesses, such as sales of boxed lunches, land development and leasing, he said.
The company generally struggled on the revenue side in its first year, Du said.
Property transfers reduced Taiwan Railway’s rental income, while an ongoing freeze of fares — which have not changed for nearly 30 years — made it hard to increase core revenue, he said.
However, he remained upbeat about the company’s future, saying that operating income might turn positive by as early as 2026, as long as it overcomes the many challenges faced by the TRA, including NT$170 billion in short-term debt.
Taiwan Railway would likely not run a net profit until its new land development projects start generating income, probably no sooner than 2027, Du said.
Although it operated as a company this year, its on-time performance fell to 93.5 percent, well short of its 97 percent target and down from 95.98 percent last year and 94.98 percent in 2022.
Du attributed the drop in performance to damage to the rail network caused by natural catastrophes, with earthquakes and aftershocks resulting in more than 900 delays of Taiwan Railway trains.
Heavy rain and typhoons also contributed to the on-time woes, he said.
Du said the firm has a target for 99 percent of its services to be on time by 2033.
The two-decade plan to corporatize the TRA, which was founded in 1948, did not gain traction until 2018 and 2021, when two fatal derailments occurred, highlighting the need for an across-the-board overhaul of the agency to ensure safer and more efficient rail travel.
Taiwan Railway has established a unit dedicated to rail safety and devised a five-year safety-enhancement plan to improve risk assessments and implement performance evaluations, Du said.
It is also reinforcing its own safety management system to bolster the control and prevention of risk hazards, especially in light of crashes that resulted from poor driving and dispatching, Du said.
Following those incidents, personnel underwent intensive training on cars newly equipped with automatic train protection devices at training centers across Taiwan, he added.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
TRANSPORT DISRUPTION: More than 100 ferry services were suspended due to rough seas and strong winds, and eight domestic flights were canceled, the ministry said Tropical Storm Wipha intensified slightly yesterday as it passed closest to Taiwan, dumping more than 200mm of rain in Hualien and Taitung counties, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 11am, Wipha was about 210km southwest of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and was moving west-northwest at 27km per hour (kph). The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 101kph and gusts reaching 126kph, with a 150km radius of strong winds, CWA data showed. Wipha’s outer rainbands began sweeping across Taiwan early yesterday, delivering steady rainfall in the east and scattered showers in other regions, forecasters said. More heavy rain was expected, especially in the eastern
RSS