Taiwan High Speed ​​Rail

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Route network
A Shinkansen 700T in the Kaohsiung depot
Tainan Railway Station
Hsinchu Railway Station
Taichung station entrance (in April 2005 during the construction phase)
Interior of a business class car
Banqiao Underground Station

Taiwan High Speed Rail ( Chinese  台灣高速鐵路 , Pinyin Taiwan Gaosu Tielu , mostly short Chinese  高鐵 , Pinyin gāotiě , also briefly THSR ) is a railroad - high-speed rail in the Republic of China on Taiwan . The 345 km long line has been in operation since January 5, 2007 and connects the capital Taipei in the north, starting in 2016 from the station Nan'gang , with the port city and second largest city Kaohsiung in the south. An extension is planned from the current southern terminus in Zuoying to Kaohsiung Central Station.

The shortest scheduled travel time between Taipei and Kaohsiung is 96 minutes, with stops in Banqiao and Taichung . There is also a slightly slower variant with a two-hour journey with additional stops in Taoyuan , Hsinchu , Chiayi and Tainan ; a journey with stops at all intermediate stations takes two hours and 18 minutes.

planning

At the beginning of the 1990s, investigations began in Taiwan for the construction of a high-speed line between the greater Taipei area in the north of the island, where most of Taiwan's 20 million inhabitants live, and the second largest city in Taiwan, Kaohsiung in the south of the island (2.7 million inhabitants ). In terms of air traffic, both cities were served by seven airlines at ten-minute intervals at the end of the 1990s.

After many years of research, the Taiwan High Speed ​​Rail project was tendered as a concession in 1997 . In addition to the construction (around five years of construction), the operation of the line should be guaranteed for over 30 years. Then, after around 35 years, the project should become the property of the state. In August 1997 there were two offers: On the one hand, there was an offer from Eurotrain , a consortium made up of Siemens , GEC-Alsthom and Taiwanese groups that offered a mixture of ICE and TGV technology. In addition, the Chinese High Speed ​​Rail Consortium (CHSRC) with Japanese Shinkansen technology had applied for the contract.

At the beginning of October 1997 (other source: February 1998) the Eurotrain consortium was declared the “preferred provider” for the construction and operation of the new line and a concession agreement was negotiated. The joint venture appeared in a consortium with five Taiwanese companies and the Evergreen Group as the Taiwan High Speed ​​Rail Consortium . The offer of 11.8 billion US dollars included the construction of the route and the delivery of trains as well as an operating license; the European partners accounted for around four billion dollars. The Taiwanese transport authority, according to its own statements, opted for the European instead of the favored Japanese Shinkansen solution due to the significantly better financing proposals. The Taiwanese favored a mixture of two ICE power cars for 300 km / h and 12 TGV duplex intermediate cars each in a double-decker design . The trains should u. a. a German overhead contact line of the Re 330 type and the train control system for line control received, while the interlocking technology was to be supplied from the French side.

According to the planning status from the beginning of 1998, the route should be designed for a maximum speed of 350 km / h, with a maximum longitudinal gradient of 40 per thousand. Of the 345 kilometers of the route, 252 should lead over viaducts and bridges, 48 ​​in tunnels. Operations were to begin on July 1, 2003, with up to 300,000 passengers in each direction being able to be transported 18 hours a day and train headways of up to three minutes.

In the spring of 1999 it became known that the Taiwanese partners, who favored the Eurotrain consortium, had not yet been able to secure sufficient financing on the capital market. Whether this is a consequence of the Asian crisis (1997/1998) or the train accident in Eschede (1998) remains unclear. At the same time, the pre-series trains of the 700 Shinkansen were presented in Japan (1999), together with a commitment to close the financing gap for their purchase.

After the European consortium had submitted a final offer at the end of December 1999, the operating company Taiwan High-Speed ​​Rail Corporation surprisingly announced that instead of the Eurotrain consortium, a Japanese consortium would be commissioning the Mitsui Group with the construction of the route and the delivery of trains. According to a spokesman for the operator, a comparison of the offers showed that the Shinkansen technology was superior to the European solution in many aspects.

A lawsuit by Eurotrain against the award was rejected at the beginning of February 2000. Eurotrain then sued for $ 800 million in damages in February 2001 and, after a lengthy arbitration process, was finally awarded $ 32.4 million in March 2004 for development expenses and $ 35.7 million as compensation for enrichment. In November, the THSRC finally accepted a payment of $ 65 million, which turned into $ 89 million with interest.

construction

In May 1999, work on the line began with the laying of the foundation stone for the main Yanchao plant ( Chinese  燕巢 ) near Kaohsiung . The 345 km long new line is completely separated from the existing Taiwanese railway network and, in contrast to its cape gauge, uses the standard gauge (1,435 mm). It is specifically dedicated to high-speed passenger transport. 300 km of the route are exclusively tunnels and bridges in order to avoid other traffic arteries and to meet ecological requirements; animal underpasses were also created. In addition, twelve train stations are planned along the route, which will be built by local companies. Eight of these have now been completed and are in operation.

The planned completion was actually October 2005. However, in July 2005 only around 88% of the route, 92% of the stations and only 60% of the mechanical and electronic systems were completed. For this reason and due to financial difficulties, the completion was postponed first to October 2006, then to the end of December 2006. The line has been in operation since January 2007, even if it is initially struggling with various teething problems (especially in the ticket system).

To protect against around 30,000 earthquakes registered in Taiwan every year , the route was anchored around 100 m deep in the ground in many places.

Taiwan High Speed ​​Rail Corporation (THSRC) is responsible for execution and funding. Due to the delays, the total cost is now approximately $ 15 billion. This makes it one of the most expensive new railway lines in the world.

Several German companies were involved in the construction, including Bilfinger Berger AG (approx. 80 km of trackless track), Hochtief AG (about 40 km of trackless track), BWG (delivery and installation of high-speed turnouts up to a radius of 10,000 m) and Pfleiderer (sleepers slab track ).

At the end of January 2005, the first test drives with high-speed trains delivered from Japan began. Commissioning was postponed from October 2005 to October 2006 due to delayed construction work. 13 train drivers from Germany drove the first trains and trained their Taiwanese colleagues over a period of nine months. At the end of May 2007, Taiwanese train drivers drove the trains for the first time.

On January 2, 2011, a 6.5 km long line to connect Tainan to the new line went into operation.

Rolling stock

For the operation were high-speed trains of the Japanese Shinkansen - 700 series as rebuilt and partly with the 500 series combined to meet the requirements of geography, topography, climatic conditions and laws of Taiwan , respectively. The trains were given the designation 700T . 30 complete train sets were ordered, each of which consists of twelve cars with a capacity of 986 passengers. Eleven cars are second class (economy class) and one car per train is first class (business class) with wider, more comfortable seats. These trains are built by the Taiwan Shinkansen Corp. (TSC, Chinese  台灣 新 幹線 , Pinyin Táiwān Xīngànxiàn ), a consortium led by the Japanese Shinkansen group, which consists of the companies Kawasaki Heavy Industries , Nippon Sharyo and Hitachi Ltd. consists.

Test operation

The first tests began in January 2005 on a 60 km long section in the south between Kaohsiung and Tainan . Different speed tests took place. At the end of October, the target speed of 300 km / h was reached and even exceeded at 315 km / h, although the trains in passenger operation ultimately only run 300 km / h.

Train stations

Trivia

Roadworthy models (in N gauge ) of the 700T train with the typical ivory-orange paintwork are offered in 7-Eleven shops in the stations.

In July 2007 the "Taiwan High Speed ​​Railway" edition of the Playstation computer game "Railfan" was published with original recordings of a driver's cab ride from Taipei to Zuoying in high resolution. The aim of the game is to control a train according to the schedule or as quickly as possible while observing the speed limits from the start to the destination.

Web links

Commons : Taiwan High Speed ​​Rail  - Collection of Pictures, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Presentation of the Eurotrain. In: Eisenbahn-Revue International . Issue 6, 1998, ISSN  1421-2811 , pp. 238-240.
  2. ↑ a b »Eurotrain« drives 316 km / h. In: Railway courier . June 1998, ISSN  0170-5288 , p. 6 f.
  3. ↑ The Euro-Train wins an express train race for the first time in Asia. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . No. 229, 1997, ISSN  0174-4917 , p. 25.
  4. ↑ Siemens merely “preferred provider”. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. No. 230, 1997, ISSN  0174-4917 , p. 26.
  5. ↑ Rays of hope for Shinkansen bullet train in Taiwan? . In: Kyodo News International , The Free Library , June 3, 1999. 
  6. ↑ Race of the super trains shortly before the finish. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. No. 293, 1999, ISSN  0174-4917 , p. 31.
  7. ↑ Euro-Train in Taiwan out of the running. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. No. 301, 1999, ISSN  0174-4917 , p. 28.
  8. ↑ Shinkansen in front of Eurotrain. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. No. 26, 2000, ISSN  0174-4917 , p. 26.
  9. ↑ Eurotrain Consortium v. Taiwan High Speed ​​Rail Corporation . Analysis Group . Retrieved September 29, 2010.
  10. ^ Taiwan High Speed ​​Rail to compensate railway consortium . Taipei Times . November 27, 2004. Retrieved January 28, 2009.
  11. ↑ a b c d Olaf Krohn: As a trainer to Taiwan. In: mobile . No. 7, 2007, p. 56.
  12. ↑ Report test drives in Taiwan. In: Eisenbahn-Revue International. Issue 4/2005, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 183.
  13. ↑ Message Taiwan: High speed only from October 2006. In: Eisenbahn-Revue International. Issue 7/2006, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 362.
  14. ↑ Message: Taiwanese train drivers successfully trained. In: DB World . June 2007 edition, p. 18.
  15. ↑ Tainan - Shalun branch opens early . Report on railwaygazette.com dated January 10, 2011.