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.
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday vowed to protest at the EVA Air Marathon on Sunday next week should EVA Airway Corp’s management continue to ignore the union’s petition to change rules on employees’ leave of absence system, after a flight attendant reportedly died after working on a long-haul flight while ill. The case has generated public discussion over whether taking personal or sick leave should affect a worker’s performance review. Several union members yesterday protested at the Legislative Yuan, holding white flowers and placards, while shouting: “Life is priceless; requesting leave is not a crime.” “The union is scheduled to meet with
‘UNITED FRONT’ RHETORIC: China’s TAO also plans to hold weekly, instead of biweekly, news conferences because it wants to control the cross-strait discourse, an expert said China’s plan to expand its single-entry visa-on-arrival service to Taiwanese would be of limited interest to Taiwanese and is a feeble attempt by Chinese administrators to demonstrate that they are doing something, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the program aims to facilitate travel to China for Taiwanese compatriots, regardless of whether they are arriving via direct flights or are entering mainland China through Hong Kong, Macau or other countries, and they would be able to apply for a single-entry visa-on-arrival at all eligible entry points in China. The policy aims
The government yesterday donated US$200,000 to the Philippines to support post-earthquake relief and recovery efforts, following a powerful magnitude 6.9 quake that struck Cebu Province late last month, killing at least 72 people and injuring 559 others. The donation was presented earlier yesterday by Representative to the Philippines Wallace Chow (周民淦) to Cherbett Maralit, deputy resident representative of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office, at Taiwan’s representative office in Manila. In his remarks, Chow expressed concern for those affected by the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck the central Philippines on the night of Sept. 30. "We sincerely hope for the earliest possible
RSS