David on Formosa

Nobody seems sure exactly when the high speed rail will open. The official opening ceremony is scheduled for 7 December, but regular services won't start operating on that date. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications review committee met yesterday to discuss the opening of the HSR. A report from the Taiwan News says MOTC Vice Minister Ho Nuan-hsuan, "refused to comment on whether the formal launch, slated for December 7, would be delayed".

The train was given conditional approval to start operations at the meeting. The Taipei Times reports,  

The final review of the high speed rail concluded last night, with members of the inspection committee outlining six conditions that need to be met before the system can become fully operational.

The three main conditions are, first, that the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) present records of two weeks of test runs conducted at intervals of no greater than 10 minutes apart.

Second, the high speed rail will need to operate accident-free for one month following a minor accident that occurred last Friday.

Third, the company is required to present evidence that the signaling system is fully integrated with other sub-systems. During test runs, the company will also need to demonstrate the ability to, among other things, operate a timetable in which trains run every four minutes.

There are ongoing concerns about the safety of the rail system. This has not been helped by two derailments, although it should be noted that one of these was a maintenance vehicle and the other occurred while a train was travelling at low speed in a station.

The Taipei Times also reports that the Taiwan Railways (TRA) will start operating tilting trains between Taipei and Hualian in time for Chinese New Year in 2007. These trains will cut the travelling time between Taipei and Hualian from three to two hours.  

I took the photo of the tilting train above from the Hitachi Rail website. Its design looks almost as sleek as the high speed train.  

Whenever the HSR does finally open train travellers will be able to enjoy must faster travel times around the island.  

Update: The Taipei Times says THSRC executive director Ou Chin-der has suggested the official 7 December opening "be postponed". The Taiwan News says the THSRC board decided to postpone the official opening at a meeting last night. The Taipei Times also has a great photo of the high speed trains. (added 30 Nov 2006)