case study4 - taiwan high speed rail

土木工程概念設計

Taiwan high speed rail

│臺灣高鐵│Taiwan high speed rail│ 1

Taiwan High Speed Rail

igh speed rail is also known as HSR. The first HSR in the

world was built by Japan in 1964 which was the newly

developed 0 series Shinkansen. The purpose of HSR was to

promote regional prosperity, transportation convenience, and

increase indstrial and commercial development. Japanese

government at the time expected HSR to move the industrial

economy, social culture and life style towards a whole new direction.

Since HSR, the convenience of life was greatly improved in Japan; it

also became the reference model for Taiwan to develop its own high

speed rail.

Convenient and fast transportation can move the national

economy and promote regional resources communication, as well as

shorten the distance between people. So, “how fast should a

railroad operates to be justified as high speed rail?” According to

the UIC (International Union of Railways) definition, high speed rail

refers to traffic operational system with maximum speed over 200km

per hour. Current countries in the world that own HSR are Japan

(Shinkansen), France (TGV), Germany (ICE), Spain (AVE), Italy

(ETR), Korea (KTX), etc. Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) began

operation on January 5th 2007 and the maximum operational speed

reached 300km/hr. THSR relieves the traffic jam problem in the

western corridor of Taiwan; and similar as Shinkansen in Japan, the

high speed transportation shortens the distance between north and

H 1、 Introduction



│臺灣高鐵│Taiwan high speed rail│

2

south. Whether holiday travels, business trips or returning home for

visit, THSR takes away the painstaking transportation and replaces

with easy and comfortable way of travel. HSR is the modern inland

transportation with speed next to airplane. The construction of

THSR makes Taiwan transportation development catching up with

the world technology, and entering the list of countries with HSR.

Photo 1. 0 series Shinkansen of Japan that went into operation in

1964 was the first HSR.

Photo 2. Taiwan High Speed Rail that went into operation in 2007

has shortened the distance between north and south in Taiwan.




Photo 3. It takes only 90 minutes to travel from Taipei to

Kaohsiung with THSR.

Taipei to Kaohsiung

Provincial Highway

Highway

Taiwan Railroad

Airplane



*under normal traffic condition




4

Photo 4. THSR creates a new living style for the Taiwanese.




The total length of THSR is

345km with 8 stations: Taipei,

Banciao, Taoyuan, Hsinchu,

Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan, and

Zuoying. In the future, four more

stations Nangang, Miaoli, Chunhua

and Yunlin will join for service. A

maintenance station is set on

Yanchao District in Kaohsiung City,

and maintenance bases are

distributed in Lioujia, Wurih, Taibao,

and Zuoying. Each HSR train

consists of 12 cars (one business car

and 11 standard cars) as it uses the

Photo 5. Stations comparison between Taiwan High Speed Rail and

Taiwan Rail.




6

700T model train (full length at 304m) of Japan Shinkansen. Each

car is formed by integral duel layer aluminum alloy. The early

models of Shinkansen used steel body; and now the aluminum alloy

body is the technical trend of the high speed rail. Safety equipment

wise, there are automatic passenger train control system; passenger

emergency communication system; emergency ventilation and

lighting system; crashworthiness design, etc. In addition to speed,

passenger safety is also very important to the design of high speed

rail.

Photo 6. Taiwan High Speed Rail adopts 700T model of Japan

Shinkansen.

• 12 coaches • 1 business ，11 standard class • 989 passenger seats




It took 6 years to build the THSR, and it was the world largest

BOT project in which government and private industries invested

over 600 billion NT dollars. While in preparation, the Preparation

Office of High Speed Rail of the Ministry of Transportation and

Communications anticipated the minimum operation of THSR

during concession period could reach 180 thousand passengers, and

the maximum would be 360 thousand. However after actual

operation, the daily ridership was only 80 thousand, which was less

than 1/3 of the estimated average. THSR BOT project claimed zero

government investment, and Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation

beat China Development Financial Holding in acquiring the

preferred bidding. After actual operation, THSR did bring

convenience to Taiwanese people; however, the operational revenue

was far below expectation and that the financial problem has been a

consistent issue. In order to save this major transportation that

deeply associated with people’s life, the government has been

funding the financial deficit of THSR since it went into operation.

Why would THSR suffer from serious financial problems? What

should the government do from now on? Do Taiwanese people

really need THSR? Why THSR could not reach the expected

operation ridership? These are the questions that need our further

considerations in the future.

2、Taiwan Traffic Development

2.1 Traffic Constructions in Taiwan

Taiwan is an island surrounded by seas on four sides. The land

is packed with population, in which 94% is concentrated on the

western corridor. Geologically speaking, the traffic between east




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and west is blocked by the Central Mountains and cut by rivers

between north and south. The early transportation in Taiwan relied

mostly on water transport. Tainan, Lugang in Chanhua and Wanhua

in Taipei were the old major traffic junctures.

Towards the end of Chin Dynasty, Taiwan began its major

modification on the island traffic between north and south. In 1887

(13th year of Emperor Guangxu of Chin Dynasty), Governor Liu

Mingchuan planed to build railway from Keelung to Tainan, he

proposed a comprehensive railroad construction plan in his report to

the Emperor. Although the measuring survey progressed up till

Dajia River, there were only Keelung to Taipei, and Taipei to

Hsinchu two routes that were completed. Despite so, the inland

traffic in Taiwan had become more convenient for the sake of

railroads. After Shimonoseki Treaty, Japan acquired the

sovereignty over Taiwan and began constructing transportation

facilities. The air and inland traffic of Taiwan were founded during

this period of time. Western railways extended from Hsinchu to

Fanliao in Pindong, and the eastern railways travelled between

Hualien and Taidong. In addition, light rails for sugar and salt

industries were widely distributed on the western plain, and the air

traffic then was mostly for military purposes. During Japanese

occupation era, the highway and railroad system followed the

Japanese system by travelling on the left side of the roads. In 1945

when the Republic of China took back the sovereignty over Taiwan,

besides the railway system which followed the original system, roads

and highways were returned back to the right side.

Government of the Republic of China moved to Taiwan after

the civil war against the Chinese Communist. The traffic

construction in the early period was mainly for military defense

purposes. In recent decades, electrified railways, round the island




railroad projects, the highway networking et al transportation

projects finished one by one that shaped the current Taiwan traffic

system, along with the construction of the domestic air traffic

networking, urban rail system, and north-south high speed rail.

Right now the means of transportation in Taiwan include ports and

water freights, freeways, highways, railroads, air and high speed rails;

sufficient to encounter the different transportation needs of the public

in the change of times.

2.2 Advantages of High Speed Rails

Comparing to the specific advantages of other means of

transportation, HSR has a much higher payload capacity and the

maximum speed exceeds 300km/hr; it responses to the social needs

for reducing traffic congestion and the pursuit of high speed.

Analysis on Japan’s experience shows that the CO2 emission and the

energy consumption of railroads are far lower than vehicles but the

payload capacity is much higher. HSR is capable of moving

massive amount of passengers expeditiously without causing air

pollution; it can also relief the congestion of the highways. If

comparing HSR with the fastest transportation, the airplanes, we can

find that the payload capacity of the HSR is higher than that of the

airplanes but the energy consumption and the CO2 emission are

similar. HSR is much more convenient to the passengers and the

fare is lower than the airplanes. All in all, HSR is a transportation

option that serves environmental protection, need of speed and

economic efficiency purposes.




10

Photo 8. Fast speed, higher ridership; high speed rail is the

fastest surface transportation in the world today.

Photo 7. Railways have higher transportation volume, low energy

consumption and low in CO2 emission.

Railroads Buses Vehicles Air Others

Traffic

Volume

Energy

Consumption

CO2

Emission

Transportation

Volume

High

Low

Railroads

Highway Bus High Speed Rail

Private Vehicle

Air Transportation

speed km/hr




3、 History of Taiwan High Speed Rail

3.1 The Beginning

Looking at the current world traffic development, many highly

developed countries or countries with fast developing economy are

gradually equipped with high speed rails. For example: SKS in

Japan, TGV in France, ICE in Germany, KTX in Korea and THSR in

Taiwan. As we looked back to the time before THSR was finished,

there were highway systems and adequate air transportation system;

the means of transportation were already much more advanced than

the time when there was only water transportation. What gave

Taiwan government the idea of constructing a high speed rail system?

Why does Taiwan need a high speed rail? What are the problems

exist in the construction and the operation of the high speed rail? In

the future, how does it face the new and diversified social needs

under the changing society? Let us first begin with “why does

Taiwan need a HSR”, and find out if the construction of high speed

rail does fulfill the need of the Taiwanese people.

Photo 9. Countries with high speed rail.

France TGV Germany ICE Korea KTX

USA Acela

Spain AVE

Italy ETR China Shanghai Maglev

Japan SKS

Taiwan THSR




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94% of the Taiwan population

lives on the west side of the island.

The development of west Taiwan is

the key to the blooming economy.

Although airplane is the fastest mean

of transportation, the air fare is rather

expensive and the airports are

normally in remote locations that

passengers often need to consider

both the pricing and the convenience.

Before THSR, the inland traffic of west Taiwan mainly relied on

highways to connect the north and south. At the time, Taiwan

economy was blooming and the population between north and south

were moving quite frequently which resulted in the congestion of the

highways. Both railways and the highways were unable to satisfy

the need for moving rapidly between destinations. After all, time is

money, and passengers are always looking for faster transportation

for business trips, leisure travelling or other forms of transportation

needs. In addition, THSR stations are located in suburbs, hoping to

bring about the economic development of the neighboring areas and

to increase the commercial value of the nearby properties. Therefore,

the goals when building a high speed rail in Taiwan were (1)

promote economy growth, (2) develop more areas that were suitable

for development and (3) resolve the western plain traffic congestion.




Taiwan needed a high speed rail in the early days, and now

Taiwan has a high speed rail. Does THSR really push forward the

economy development in Taiwan? Does it drastically resolve the

western plain traffic congestion? If THSR is indeed a new

transportation model that highly fits into the Taiwan life style and is

needed by Taiwanese people, then after operation, THSR should be

able to create better economical efficacy than has been expected.

However, is it really so? How will THSR continue to operate under

the fast changing society in Taiwan?

Photo 10. 94% of the Taiwan population is concentrated

on the western corridor.




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3.2 Constructing THSR

THSR is the largest scale traffic construction with the highest

investment amount in the history of Taiwan. The government

adopted BOT model and involved private sectors into this major

public construction project. B-O-T are the abbreviations of Build,

Operate, and Transfer; the term refers to the business model in which

the private sector constructs the project planed by the government

and operates for a period of time before transferring back to the

government. The main reason why government adopted BOT

model to proceed with the HSR project was to lighten the financial

burden of the government.

Photo 11. Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) adopted BOT model.




On July 16th, 1993, the Legislative Yuan approved the THSR

project, cutting the full amount of the budget and granted private

sectors the construction project. In 1997, Taiwan High Speed Rail

Consortium(THSRC) beat Chunghwa High Speed Rail

Consortium(CHSRC) and won the preferred bidding. In 1998,

THSRC established Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation formed by

Continental Engineering Corp., Evergreen Group, Fubon Financial,

Pacific Electric Wire and Cable Co., Ltd., and Teco Groups. These

five groups became the sponsoring share holders of the high speed

rail. THSRC originally was leaning towards adopting the European

high speed rail system; however, it changed to using Japanese system

in 1998. THSR was scheduled to complete on October 31st, 2005

but the operation was postponed for one year due to signal system

integration and the testing process falling behind schedule. It was

further delayed as the individual certification report was unable to

finish in time. THSR was finally in operation on January 5th, 2007.

The route of THSR according to its project is from Taipei

station in the north to Zuoying in Kaohsiung in the south, and the

total length is 345km. The main frame construction was conducted

by the THSRC, and so far there were 8 stations that were up and

running. Four other stations (Nangang, Miaoli, Changhua, and

Yunlin) will be added in the second stage construction. Since

THSR is a BOT project conducted by private sectors, there is a so

called concession period; when the concession period expires, THSR

will be transferred back to the government for operation. The

concession period of THSR is 35 years (including construction and

operation) and the main funding sources are the joint loans from the

government and the banks. THSRC beat CHSRC and acquired the

preferred bidding because it claimed “0 funding from government”

and that the construction of HSR could take back the initial funding

for the beginning stage construction. CHSRC on the other hand




16

requested 100 billion NT dollars for the construction. After

assessment, government decided to turn the construction of HSR to

THSRC. This major transportation construction that was given

high expectation for efficacy since the beginning of the construction

has been in financial crisis when it started to operate in 2007.

Though HSR brought Taiwan people a faster and more convenient

living style, making Taiwan transportation construction in the same

pace as that of the international transportation technology; many

experts wrote articles using HSR as the theme to discuss if building

high speed rail in Taiwan was a right decision. What are the

reasons that prevent HSR to achieve the estimated effect? This is a

question that worth exploring, and the key reason shall affect the

operation development of THSR; it will also be the reference for

modifying the operation direction. Though the latest news report in

2011 indicated that THSR operation has turned from loosing to

profiting in the first half of the year, how to create even higher

revenue and maintain sustainable operation would be a great

challenge the government must face.




Chart 1 Chronicle of Taiwan High Speed Rail Construction

Year Description

April 1987 Conducting study to assess the feasibility of building a

north south high speed rail on the western corridor of

Taiwan.

July 2nd

, 1990 Ministry of Transportation and Communications

established “Preparation Office of High Speed Rail”

(the former of Bureau of High Speed Rail) in charge of

planning and executing the construction of the high

speed rail.

July 16th

, 1993 Legislative Yuan approved the high speed rail project,

cutting all construction budget planned by the

government and handed the project to private sectors.

September 25th

,

1997

THSRC that leaning towards adopting European

system defeated CHSRC (leading by the China

Development Financial Holding) that preferred

Japanese system, and acquired preferred bidding.

May 11th

, 1998 Established “Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation”,

formed by five outstanding industrial groups as

co-initiators, including Continental Engineering Corp.,

Evergreen Groups, Fubon Financial, Pacific Electric

Wire and Cable Co., Ltd., and Teco Group.

December 28th

,

1998

High Speed Rail project changed to adopting Japanese

system.

February 2nd

,

2000

THSRC signed credit contract with joint loan bank

group that was consisted of Bank of Taiwan et al 25




18

banks, the credit limit was 323.3 billion NT dollars.

March 16th

, 2004 The international Court of Arbitration of the

International Chamber of Commerce ruled that THSRC

must compensate Eurotrain 730.4 million US dollars

for breaking contract.

September 8th

,

2004

Due to core system construction, signal system

integration and the car test progress fall behind

schedule, THSRC decided to postpone operation for

one year.

December 10th

,

2004

Civil and tunnel works for HSR completed.

July 2006 THSRC signed a second joint credit loan contract with

7 domestic private owned banks; the credit limit was

20.7 billion NT dollars.

January 5th

, 2007 THSR Banqiao to Zuoying opened for service, test

operation began and the first trains set out from

Banqiao, Taichung and Zuoying stations.

Source: Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation




Photo 12. Changes around Taoyuan HSR station neighboring area

(2000 VS 2007)

Photo 13. Changes around Zuoying HSR station neighboring area

(2000 VS 2007)




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Photo 14. Taiwan High Speed Rail tunnel construction.

Photo 15. Taiwan High Speed Rail high rise bridge

construction.




Photo 16. Station construction of the Taiwan High Speed Rail.

Photo 17. Taiwan High Speed Rail stations are mainly located in

the suburbs.




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4、Obstacles of Taiwan High Speed Rail

Large scale public construction often associates with the need of

people and society. All constructions have their problems that

await resolving. Even when there are plenty previous experiences

to learn and refer to, there are inevitably difficulties beyond

imagination that test the reaction and wisdom of the builders.

Taiwan High Speed Rail refers to the experiences in Japan and

Europe during construction; however, when the same construction is

performed in different locations, there bound to be regional specific

difficulties and obstacles. In the following, we will address these

problems faced by THSR during construction and operation.

4.1 Noise

High decibel noise is generated by the fast speed HSR, and the

neighboring residents suffer a very long time from the noise of the

frequent passing trains. When Shinkansen in Japan was first built,

residents along the rail lines claimed that the noise affected their

daily lives, causing headaches and other physical discomforts.

There were also law suits brought by the situation. THSR currently

is still working on the noise problems for the residents. HSR is

willing to provide some compensational feedbacks for the residents

that suffer from the noise of the high speed rail, such as installing

sound-proof walls, sound-proof windows, or air conditioners – but

the electricity bills will be bored by the residents. People think that

this measure increases their electricity spending, and feel confined to

their own houses by the sound-proofing walls. They still look

forward to the Bureau of High Speed Rail to propose better

advantageous solutions to eradicate the noise problem once and for

all. Noise is a problem that receives much attention, and the




Facts about noise

1. The simplest way to determine whether it is noise is

to see if the sound makes people feel uncomfortable.

2. Everybody feels differently about noise. Judging by

figures, the normal volume is below 50 decibels and

this volume does not irritate people. Volume

between 50~70 decibels may induce slight

discomfort. Volume above 70 will cause irritation,

anxiety and inducing different physical symptoms.

3. The volume of sound is measured by ‘decibel’.

Decibel refers to the intensity and the volume of

sounds. It is represented by Deci-Bel (dB(A)). A

normal human hearing range is between 0 to 130

dB(A).

government shall keep monitoring the noise generated by Taiwan

High Speed Rail to see if it exceeds the regulated decibels.




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4.2 Vibration

The vibration problem exists in the high speed travelling of the

high speed rail, and the residents nearby are constantly bothered by it.

The vibration problem is so sever that walls of some houses crack,

and the ground of some houses even tilt to sides. Residents protest

against it to the Taiwan High Speed Rail and received some

Photo 18. Environmental decibel volume in different

circumstances

Interior Construction

70~80 dB(A)

Group Singing

60~70 dB(A)

Air Condition (low

frequency)

30~60 dB(A)

Winds blowing

through woods

20~40 dB(A)

Clock Ticking

10~20 dB(A)

Jet Engine

140 dB(A)

Air Planes Taking

Off and Landing

110~130 dB(A)

Construction Site

80~110 dB(A)

Folk Facilities

70~110 dB(A)

Amplifying Devices

70~90 dB(A)

Source: Environmental Protection Bureau, Executive Yuan




compensations; however, it would still not prevent the vibration

damage whenever the trains drive by. The vibration problem of

High Speed Rail in the Southern Taiwan Science Park is also a big

issue. Southern Taiwan Science Park is on soft ground and soft

ground vibrates much bigger than the rocky ground of the Hsinchu

Science Park. Some developers thought of abandoning the

development projects in Southern Taiwan Science Park because of

the vibration problem. This vibration caused by THSR also has

been bothering the government. National Science Council, the

Ministry of Transportation and Communications, and the Bureau of

High Speed Rail all proposed their solutions to reduce the vibration;

the government and the Bureau of High Speed Rail also proactively

working with private engineering companies in finding out the main

causes of the vibration, hoping to come up with some reduction

constructions to improve the problem.

Photo 19. Diagram of Southern Taiwan Science Park vibration

caused by high speed rail.


Vibration cause by passing

trains, shock waves travel

downwards through stake.

Shock waves travel through

soft ground

Shock waves travel

through rock layer

payload

Shock waves travel through

factory foundation stakes.

High technology

semiconductor

chip wafer factory

Soft

grounds.




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4.3 Land Subsidence

“Land subsidence” is by far the biggest problem Taiwan High

Speed Rail faces since completion. According to Hong-Yuan Lee,

the Chief Commissioner of the Public Construction Commission of

the Executive Yuan, the life of Taiwan High Speed Rail may only

have 10 years left. Current President of the Taiwan High Speed

Rail Chin-Der Ou also said frankly that the land subsidence has been

the biggest crisis for Taiwan High Speed Rail. As reported by the

World News Journal, “along the Taiwan High Speed Rail line, areas

with the most server land subsidence problem are Changhua, north to

south Yunlin at the Hsichou section, HSR Yulin Station, and County

Route 158 intersections. These areas are all subsiding over 5mm

per year. Experts say that land subsidence will cause the high rise

piers to sink, this would endanger the traffic safety of HSR.” The

piers reinforcement construction originally scheduled to begin in

2020 has already been pushed forward. In March 2011, High Speed

Rail Corporation replaced the pier cushions of the Yunlin section,

and adjusted the angle that was caused by the land subsidence. In

August, the company reinforced the beams with carbon fibers.

These prove that the land subsidence is indeed the most eminent

obstacle of Taiwan High Speed Rail. Why would the land subside?

Experts indicate that over extracting the underground water is the

fundamental cause. Before the construction of Taiwan High Speed

Rail, the residents along the rail line would extract the underground

water for industrial, agricultural, fishery or domestic needs.

Extracting underground water has been the habit of the neighboring

residents. However, since THSR was built, the government asked

the residents not to extract underground water or to seal the wells;

this appeared to force the residents to change their existing life styles.

Residents also demanded the government to provide compensations

for the inconvenience THSR brought them. However, from the




prospective of salvaging THSR, if the land subsidence problem is not

solved immediately, the future of THSR is indeed in jeopardy.

Government and the experts are trying very hard to save THSR

because this is not something to take light heart in. If the condition

cannot be resolved in recent years, THSR shall be forced to stop

running in the future for the sake of safety concerns.

4.4 Financial Problem

When the government decided to adopt BOT to have private

sectors conduct the construction of the high speed rail, the purpose

was to reduce the financial burden on the government. THSRC was

granted the preferred bidding of the construction as it claimed zero

Photo 20. Land subsidence is a critical condition that endangers

Taiwan High Speed Rail; over extracting underground water is

the major cause of the problem.




28

funding from the government and that high speed rail operation

would enable government to take back the 105.7 billion NT dollars,

and it would generate positive revenue. However, since the

beginning of operation till this day, Taiwan High Speed Rail has been

facing financial problems. The source of construction capitals of

Taiwan High Speed Rail mainly came from bank loans; when the

operation began, the revenue was generated from the ridership.

However, the over estimation on the primary ridership, the over high

bank loan interest, and the short depreciation allocation made it

difficult for the Taiwan High Speed Rail financial condition to turn

from loosing to profiting. Current President of Taiwan High Speed

Rail, Chin-Der Ou, keeps pleading to the government to prolong the

Taiwan High Speed Rail concession period for otherwise the short

depreciation allocation shall impose heavy financial pressure on

Taiwan High Speed Rail. THSR pointed out that the government

estimated the high speed rail would have 230 thousand passengers

per day; however, since operation, there were only 80 thousand

passengers per day. Why was there a wrongly estimated ridership?

Former president of THSR Nita Ing said that the industries moving

out of Taiwan was one of the main reasons why THSR was unable to

reach the estimated volume. In recent years, the economy in

mainland China started to bloom and many industries moved to

China for production. Nearly 2 million passengers were lost

because of that. However, professor Dung-Chi Chen of the

Ministry of Transportation and Communications Management at

Tamkang University pointed out that “THSR made a wrong decision

in choosing the lines and stations. High speed rail is a high density,

high ridership public transportation in terms of functionality. When

choosing routes and stations to meet such function, ‘demand oriented’

strategy should be adopted. However, government at the time only

followed the ‘supply oriented’ strategy, hoping high speed rail would




push the development of new towns and cities, and locating high

speed rail routes and stations in the remote regions where the lands

were easier to acquire (low land cost). The experience with

Shinkanasen in Japan indicated that it would take 20 to 30 years for

new cities and towns to form. Can the huge deficit of HSR wait so

long for the demand to grow and increase its revenue in the future?

This decision making logic has already doomed THSR with long

term deficit and debts.”

Financial problem till this day remains the Achill’s heel of the

high speed rail. By opening for operation every day will cost

THSR over 100 millions of NT dollars. Since 95% of the revenue

comes from passengers, how to increase the number of passengers is

the current vital turning key. In recent years, THSR promoted

several premium packages for passengers, hoping to increase the

off-peak passenger number. In addition, it also pleads for

prolonging the concession period, changing the depreciation

allocation, and trying to bring in more new shareholders to increase

the funding sponsorship. These are the directions THSR has been

trying very hard to adjust. After over four years of operation, HSR

finally was able to gain profit in the first half of year 2011. The

main reason was the increase of passengers that brought in the large

growth on the revenue. How to keep generating positive revenue

and making steady growth from now on would be the challenge that

THSR faces in the future.

4.5 Connecting Traffic

Most THSR stations are in the remote suburbs and this makes it

very inconvenient for the passengers. Since passengers need to

spend time travel between cities and stations by public buses or other

means of transportation, taking THSR becomes unnecessary as it




30

does not serve the purpose of ‘saving time’. Planning a good

connecting transportation network can effectively increase the THSR

ridership. In order to make it easy for the passengers, THSR

launched “HSR Speedy Bus” free shuttle service in 5 stations with

10 routes in total in Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi, and Tainan

stations. There are fixed schedule buses daily connecting stations

and cities for the passengers that travel with THSR. However, the

actual execution shows that the number of people taking shuttle

buses between stations and cities is still not high. The number of

the passenger on the connecting shuttle is low and thus does not

conform with the cost and effect. In order to increase the THSR

ridership, the connecting transportation from the stations will need a

better planning in order to make it more convenient so as to elevate

willingness of passengers to choose THSR as their transportation

option.

4.6 New Stations

Currently there are 8 THSR stations in service, and 4 stations

(Nangang, Miaoli, Changhua, and Yunlin) will be added in the

second stage construction. Although adding new stations makes the

traveling to more regions easier, allowing more passengers to take

Photo 21. Taiwan High Speed Rail launched free shuttle service,

hoping to increase the passenger number of the High Speed Rail.




THSR; a new issue arises that requires attention. The issue

concerns whether the meaning of high speed rail would be deprived

from installing more new stops. When THSR was planning stations,

they already considered the strategy to face such an issue, and

designed non-stop trains from Taipei to Kaohsiung for those with

high speed transportation requests. In order for more passengers to

ride on THSR, THSR use train schedule arrangements and skipping

stations to maintain the travelling speed. In the future when the

news stations are in service, trains with different stops will be

scheduled. To this day, THSR still maintains high speed travel

which satisfies passengers need for speed.




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5、 General Discussion – Future of High Speed Rail

When the economy in Taiwan took fly, business population had

the need for moving in high speed, which made the THSR a well

expected major transportation construction at the time. The

majority of the Taiwanese population focused on the western corridor.

In public holidays and Chinese New Year holidays, highways were

often packed with vehicles. The construction of high speed rail

helped to relieve the highway rush. In addition to moving in high

speed, high speed rail also combines high ridership and low pollution

double advantageous. Comparing to other means of transportation,

high speed rail definitely is the new option that meets the need of

modern people. Taiwan High Speed Rail combined track

engineering technology of multiple countries and overcame different

construction difficulties. It was finally opened for operation in

2007, providing high speed moving service and creating new life

styles for the Taiwanese people.

Despite the satisfying moving speed, there came inevitably

construction problems. While still in construction, High Speed Rail

already generated noise problems; after completion, there came noise

and vibration problems when trains passed by which deeply affected

the residents along the line. Management and operation wise, there

was financial problem as the ridership was less than expected in the

planning stage, making it difficult to turn from negative to positive

revenue since the revenue of high speed rail mainly relied on the

number of passengers. Though in 2011 Taiwan High Speed Rail for

the first time gains positive profit, it needs continuous profit in order

for steady operation. Also the land subsidence problem is very

serious that directly endangers the future of Taiwan High Speed Rail.




How can so many problems lurking behind the transportation

construction case that appears to be so successful? Is it because the

Taiwanese do not need a high speed rail? Or are the line wrongly

planned and the assessment not thorough enough that causes the

ridership to run below expectation? Is Taiwan High Speed Rail a

successful transportation case? Did the government make the

wrong decision by adopting the BOT scheme in constructing the high

speed rail? When begin to plan a construction, what the users need

at that time and to assess what problems would arise during

construction are the fundamental considerations. The development

of technology and the changing of society are closely associated.

High speed rail is in high speed but would it catch up with the

change of time? The structure of the society is changing, the

composition of the population is changing, technology is changing,

and the needs of people are also changing. Would a construction

that was needed 10 years ago still be needed 10 years later? Any

construction or technology that comes into being from the need of

time should be able to continue to grow with the change of time;

otherwise even the most advanced technology will be history.

Taiwan High Speed Rail must find out how to get closer to the

people’s need in the future, expanding the commercial need of

specific groups of passengers to general people with travelling needs,

and launching different packages for the changing needs of the

society to attract passengers with different needs to increase the

ridership. Only when HSR truly understands the need of people,

can it really be needed by the people, and create steady and positive

revenue. In addition to people’s need, crisis management is also a

key to the sustainable operation of a construction. Crisis tests the

wisdom of an engineering team, and it is very important to be able to

solve the crisis expeditiously. In the future, we also need the ability

of foreseeing the crisis, and include the crisis that might occur in the




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future into the consideration of construction plans. This will allow

the team higher maneuver ability to crisis and prevent the impact and

influence of the sudden crisis.

“Envision the needs to satisfy the needs; foresee the crisis to

prevent the crisis”. Envisioning the latest needs of the society

under the change of times, foreseeing the possible problems the

construction may face in the future, creating solutions that fit the

need of people and is comprehensive in dealing with crisis; these are

the abilities the future engineers must have.

Photo 22. It is a great challenge for Taiwan High Speed Rail to

operate sustainably in the future.




Part I : Use Your Brain

Practice

1. List the positive and negative influence Taiwan High Speed Rail

brings to your life.

2. Do you think Taiwan needs high speed rail? Why?




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3. Do you think BOT scheme for building Taiwan High Speed Rail

is a right decision? Elaborate what you think.

4. For a long time, residents along the high speed rail line have been

suffering from the strong vibration and noise. Propose your

version of solutions.




5. What was the main reason why Taiwan High Speed Rail was

unable to reach the estimated preliminary ridership after officially

went into operation?

6. Same as the above, what are the methods you think could

effectively increase the ridership of Taiwan High Speed Rail?




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7. Taiwan High Speed Rail stations normally locates in the remote

suburbs, and many people think that the time spend on

connecting from cities to stations is no less than using other

transportations in the cities. Propose a strategy to improve the

time for people to connect from THSR.

8. Where do you think Taiwan High Speed Rail should add stations?

Why? Some passengers indicate that too many stops shall affect

the arrival time and thus loosing the meaning of a high speed rail.

Do you agree? Is there a good way to add more stops without

affecting the speed?




9. If you were one of the people who participated the planning of

High Speed Rail, would you have chosen the suburbs where the

land was cheap and easy to acquire to construct the high speed

rail stations? The initial consideration was to promote the

economy development of the neighboring regions; do you think it

is effective? Explain why and describe your planning concept.




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10 News report indicated that Taiwan High Speed Rail suffered from

sever land subsidence problem, “Yulin, Chunghwa counties are

sinking 7 to 8cm each year, the life of THSR has only 10 years

left.” What are the measures that can salvage the situation? If

you were the government, what would you have done?




Part II : Use Your Hands

1. From internet, newspapers or magazines find photos of high

speed rail from six countries in the world that have high speed

rail and paste the photos in the boxes blow.

國家：________________ 國家：________________ 國家：________________

國家：________________ 國家：________________ 國家：________________




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2. Design a public transportation that will be widely used by people

in the coming 20 years, draw the conceptual sketch in the box

below.

case study4 - taiwan high speed rail

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