Taiwan High Speed Rail

[quote=“Pfeffersack”]
Although I would have favored the French-German consortium I have to admit that the Japanes design the most beautiful trains. :[/quote]

From the Taiwanese news, the French TGV had the fastest trains ( but noisy), the German ICE had the most luxurious interior (but have problems being on-time due to other trains sharing the same track), and the Japanese Shinkansen had the best balance of speed and comfort. Given the fact that Japan and Taiwan have similiar geographical characteristics (mountainous and earthquake prone), the Japanese Shinkansen was chosen over the European trains.

As far as I know, the construction of the tracks is partly done by German companies. They just had to change the design according to the Japanese consortium’s specs.

I don’t think that the main reasons for choosing the Shinkansen were technial. As often, the Germans were bad in lobbying for this project, and at there are probably reasons behind this that we will never know.

As far as I know, the construction of the tracks is partly done by German companies. They just had to change the design according to the Japanese consortium’s specs.

I don’t think that the main reasons for choosing the Shinkansen were technial. As often, the Germans were bad in lobbying for this project, and at there are probably reasons behind this that we will never know.[/quote]

Isn’t the Shinkansen a much older technology vs. TGV & ICE? The ICE is actually quite impressive since it can travel at 200 km/hr on a normal gauged track shared with other trains, whereas Shinkansen has a wider track.

I don’t expect much problems like delays since the HSR runs on dedicated tracks.
Looking forward to get down to KaoShiung and from there to Kenting in less than 2 hours.

Yes and no. There are several models in Japan in service (seen the 300, 500 and 700 series), the 700 is the latest and Taiwan get’s an even newer version based on that (called 700T). The ICE btw is also “old”, the latest on called ICE3 (i.e. 3rd version).

BTW: I had taken the Shinkansen 700 in Japan last year (during my CNY holiday) and it’s really smooth, no rattling like on normal tracks and you don’t feel the speed. AFAIK the cars are pressurized like in a plane.
In fact I concluded it was actually a ‘boring’ hour but a thing I just had to do. :slight_smile:

[quote=“YJaeger”][quote=“Pfeffersack”]Don’t be too negative before it actually happens.

Came back to Taiwan after 7 months and I was surprised about the progress they made with the construction of tracks, bridges and tunnels. Going from the CKS airport to downtown, there are suddenly clear signs that this is really in the works…

Compare that to western countries where it takes much longer to put up such a thing. :[/quote]

That is so true. Strangely, Taiwanese governmental projects are actually built faster than those hundred-year projects (seems like) going on in Central Florida. Take years just for them Central Florida counties to pave a couple miles of road. Maybe the corruption in Florida isn’t as bad as Taiwan, but the construction speed…uhhhhhhhhh.[/quote]

or try Boston, Massachusetts the Big Dig. Billions of dollars, much of it from federal coffers swallowed up in the black hole they call ‘concrete’ industry and ‘construction’ aka good fellas since the late seventies. construction still going on… traffic? made much worse by all the construction. light at the end of the tunnel? not in our live times.

=================I met an engineer from Korea the other day in taipei, he works for the hispeed rail, and he said 2008 at the earliest before it’s ready for public use. Four more years.

===============Get used to it.

They are getting far with the tracks down here.

I work above the local site office, and they tell me that things are on track so far.

The premier has announced they are going ahead with an HSR extension to Pingtung, with the exact route still to be determined:

More details—and better maps on the possible routes—are posted here:

Guy

“The plan would benefit the nation’s long-term development and global competitiveness”

Arsewallop.

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What I am really intrigued is the persistent rumors of plans to maybe someday try to expand the line to the East coast. Now that would be cool. First to Hualien, then complete to Taitung. It is nice to dream…

It’s going to be expensive.
There are many potential routes. The route through Kaohsiung station and the airport makes sense to me.

I read that it will just save 20 mins or something but if I was a Pingdong resident this would be a definite vote winner.

quite disappointing of you to see this opinion…
doing HSR to east coast would kill the last vestiges of true countryside on Taiwan’s main island.
The electrification of TRA to Taitung is good enough.

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I hadn’t seen this thread before so it was fascinating to read the comments back then and compare them to the reality of the HSR now.

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Don’t worry. It ain’t happening.

I guess I was being optimistic trying to get a train from taoyuen to Taichung tomorrow night :smirk:bloody holidays should be banned

so are they going to build the station in the actual city this time or another out of town one with more transfers needed?

Someone made this meme last year…

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It’s good that oluanpi is easily accessible but there is a charm that it’s slightly out of the way
Back in the day i could imagine it might be slightly like traveling to Tierra del Fuego with its two lane and infrequent bus runs

The HSR to pingtung makes that area even easier to get to and that’s ok because the drive down to pingtung is Dreary

However keep the HSR out of the east coast
Let’s keep that area nice

Indeed. The prediction for the Taoyuan Airport line was way too optimistic, but it seems the THSR turned out rather well.

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/high-speed-rail/article236384818.html

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