Taiwan High Speed Rail

Taiwan High Speed Rail
A THSR 700T train running Taiwan High Speed Rail line
Overview
Native name	Chinese: 台灣高鐵
Owner	Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation[a]
Area served	Taiwan (main island only)
Transit type	High-speed railway
Number of lines	1
Number of stations	12
Annual ridership	81,882,961 (2023)  61.8%
Website	thsrc.com.tw
Operation
Began operation	January 5, 2007; 17 years ago (2007-01-05)
Operator(s)	Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation
Character	Elevated, Underground, At-grade
Technical
System length	350 km (220 mi)
No. of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	25 kV 60 Hz AC from overhead catenary
Top speed	300kph (186mph)
Route map Legend km Western Trunk line Xizhi Depot 南港 -3.3 Nangang 0.0 台北 5.9 Taipei Xindian River 板橋 13.1 Banqiao Dahan River Western Trunk line Hueilung Tunnel Linkou Tunnel 桃園 42.3 Taoyuan Western Trunk line Hukou Tunnel 新竹 72.2 Hsinchu Western Trunk line Liujia line Liujia Liujia Maintenance Base Touqian River Neiwan line Western Trunk line Western Trunk line 苗栗 104.9 Miaoli Fengfu Miaoli Tunnel Xinwuri 台中 165.7 Taichung  metro  Western Trunk line Wurih Depot Dadu River Baguashan Tunnel Western Trunk line 彰化 193.9 Changhua Zhuoshui River 雲林 218.5 Yunlin Taibao Maintenance Base 嘉義 251.6 Chiayi Western Trunk line 台南 313.9 Tainan Shalun Shalun line Western Trunk line Erren River Yanchao Workshop Zuoying Depot Western Trunk line 左營 345.2 Zuoying Western Trunk line This diagram: view talk edit

Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) is the high-speed railway network in Taiwan, which consists of a single line that runs approximately 350 km (217 mi) along the western coast of the island, from the capital Taipei in the north to the southern city of Kaohsiung. With construction and operations managed by a private company, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC), which also operates the line, the total cost of the project was NT$513.3 billion in 1998.^[2] The system's technology is based primarily on Japan's Shinkansen.

The railway opened for service on 5 January 2007, with trains running at a top speed of 300 km/h (186 mph), currently running from Nangang to Zuoying in as little as 1 hour and 45 minutes, reaching almost 90% of Taiwan's population. Most intermediate stations on the line lie outside the cities served; however, a variety of transfer options, such as free shuttle buses, conventional rail, and metros have been constructed to facilitate transport connections.

Ridership initially fell short of forecasts, but grew from fewer than 40,000 passengers per day in the first few months of operation to over 129,000 passengers per day in June 2013.^[3] Daily passenger traffic reached 130,000 in 2014, well below the forecast of 240,000 daily passengers for 2008.^[4] The system carried its first 100 million passengers by August 2010 and over 200 million passengers had taken the system by December 2012,^[5] followed by 400 million by December 2016.^[6] THSR, or railways in general, is only located on the main island of Taiwan. Outer islands under the control of the ROC government including Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu do not have railways.

In the initial years of operation, THSRC accumulated high debts due to high depreciation charges and interest, largely due to the financial structure set up for the private company. In 2009, THSRC negotiated with the government to change the method of depreciation from depending on concessions on rights to ridership.^[7] At the same time, the government also started to help refinance THSRC's loans to assist the company so it could remain operational and profitable.^[8] The government injected NT$30 billion as a financial bailout, boosting the government's stake to about 64% from about 37%.^[4] The government also extended the rail concession from 35 years to 70 years and terminated the company's build-operate-transfer business model.^[9]

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