International Railroad Discussion > Taiwan High Speed Rail

Here's a picture I took of a Taiwan HSR train pulling into Hsinchu station on Tuesday afternoon.  Clearly the Taiwan system is based on Japanese Shinkansen designs.  As is Japan, the interiors of the standard class are spartan with a 3-2 seating arrangement.  Also like Japan, within a minute of the train arrived at its terminus at Nangang Station in Taipei City, it was descended upon by an army of cleaners preparing for a quick turnaround.

Dave

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Neat!

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DavidP Wrote:
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> Here's a picture I took of a Taiwan HSR train
> pulling into Hsinchu station on Tuesday afternoon.
>  Clearly the Taiwan system is based on Japanese
> Shinkansen designs.  As is Japan, the interiors
> of the standard class are spartan with a 3-2
> seating arrangement.

Classified as 700T, a modified Class 700, which is a 1997 design that started revenue service in 1999. Note the better-looking "nose wings" on the 700T. In terms of ancestry, Japan's newest N700 (and N700A) are on a different branch than the 700T. For example, N700 utilizes active suspension/tilting technology, while the 700T/700 doesn't.

Due to bigger diameter tunnels and much wider turning radius, the Taiwanese run their Class 700T at 300 km/h, instead of 285 km/h for the Class 700 in Japan. The original bid for the Taiwan HSR went to Germany and France, and it's just speculation on my part, but that might have a lot to do with the tunnels and the track curvature. The bid "switched" to Japan mainly for political reasons, but the two major factors were the Eschede derailment in 1998, and the 1999 Taiwan Earthquake, where Japan was able to convince Taiwan that they were better suited to deal with seismic problems.

Thanks for the report, unless you have more to post!