Taiwan's two major rail operators — Taiwan Railway Corp and Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) — have announced major schedule adjustments as Tropical Storm Fung-wong brought heavy rain to northeastern Taiwan today.
The THSRC announced that beginning at 6am today, it would operate only three trains per hour in both directions between Nangang and Zuoying, the line's two terminal points.
Photo: Wu Liang-yi, Taipei Times
The trains would only have unreserved seats, except for in business class, where seats still have to be reserved.
They are to stop at all 12 stations and depart at the top of the hour, at 20 minutes past and at 40 minutes past each hour, the high-speed rail operator said.
Beginning tomorrow, the THSRC said it would add two extra all-unreserved trains in each direction from Taichung Station at 6am and 6:30am.
Meanwhile, the last trains tomorrow are to depart from both Nangang and Zuoying at 9:40pm, arriving in Taichung at 10:40pm, the THSRC said.
As for Taiwan Railway, it said that it has suspended all express train services in eastern Taiwan between Shulin and Taitung from noon to 6pm today, along with all services on the South Link Line.
On the Western Main Line, express trains between Changhua and Chaozhou were canceled.
Local and semi-express trains on both the east and west coasts were operating flexibly depending on weather conditions, the railway said.
Tropical Storm Fung-wong is forecast to make landfall in southern Taiwan this evening before moving back out to sea off Taitung County tomorrow, according to the Central Weather Administration.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
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