Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp and Hitachi Toshiba Supreme Consortium (HTSC) yesterday signed a second supplementary deed to a procurement contract to build new-generation cabins.
The high-speed rail operator purchased 12 sets of rolling stock from Hitachi Toshiba in May 2023. The two companies then spent nearly two years working on the internal designs of the high-speed train cabins, with the first supplementary deed signed last year.
The second supplementary deed was signed by Taiwan High Speed Rail chairman James Jeng (鄭光遠) and HTSC deputy head of Asia and Japan Takuya Yamakawa at the Grand Hotel in Taipei, with Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) serving as the witness.
Photo: CNA
With the signing of the second supplementary deed, the high-speed rail operator finalized the internal design of the train cabin, allowing HTSC to begin manufacturing the rolling stock.
“That means we have entered the next milestone of rolling stock production,” Jeng said.
“The first batch of the new-generation rolling stock was scheduled to be delivered by the end of next year, but Mr Yamakawa just told me that the delivery could be a few months earlier than scheduled. That would give us more time to test the new trains, making them safer,” he said.
The new trains are scheduled to enter into operation by the second half of 2027, the company said in a statement.
The first and second supplementary deeds helped add a few passenger-friendly facilities and designs to the new train cabins, including upgrading passenger seats to the same specifications of the NS700S Series Shinkansen high-speed trains and installing charging ports at seats. New trains would be equipped with an active shock absorber system.
A noise-reduction device is also to be installed in the passage areas between trains, which can reduce noises and absorb shocks, the company said.
The new train would also have faucets, hooks for clothes and baby seats in nursery rooms, and six spots for passengers in wheelchairs, with devices to secure wheelchairs.
Currently, each train has four spots for wheelchairs.
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