well I have nothing to do that night but what a better way to make that night awesome to ride a non stop high speed rail train in Taiwan. Taiwan High Speed Rail (abbreviated THSR or HSR) is a high-speed rail line that runs approximately 349.5 km (217 mi), along the west coast of Taiwan, from the national capital Taipei to the southern city of Kaohsiung. With construction managed by a private company, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC), which also operates the line, the total cost of the project was US$18 billion.[3] At the time it was built, this was one of the world's largest privately funded rail construction schemes. The system is based primarily on Japan's Shinkansen technology.

The line opened for service on 5 January 2007, with trains running at a top speed of 300 km/h (186 mph) from Nangang to Zuoying in as little as 105 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.[4] The system carried its first 100 million passengers by August 2010 and over 200 million passengers had taken this system by December 2012.[5]

In the initial years of operation, THSRC accumulated debt 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.[6] 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.[7]

свернуть