High speed trip to Xinzhu
This morning I took my first ride on Taiwan's new high speed train. I arrived at Banqiao Station early in the morning to catch the 7:25 train from Banqiao to Xinzhu. Even though the trains have already been operating for five days, there was a buzz of excitement as people waited to board the train.
Many people were busy at the front of the train snapping pictures. The sleek lines of the front of the train really are smooth and impressive. The photo above was taken at Xinzhu Station, not Banqiao where the platform is underground.
Time came to board the train. The first thing to note is the 2+3 seating. Although the seats are fairly narrow there is plenty of legroom and the aisle seems quite wide. Only tickets for the available seats are sold so there is no need to negotiate your way through crowds of standing passengers as is often the case on the Taiwan Railways trains.
As the train left the first thing I noticed was the very smooth ride. The acceleration is not particularly noticeable and there is very little noise. The section between Banqiao and Taoyuan passes through a number of tunnels and after just ten minutes the train was at Taoyuan Station.
After stopping for a few minutes there it then departed for the next stop, Xinzhu. I am not sure what the top speed was while I was travelling on the train. At well over 200 kilometres an hour the countryside whizzed by but there was no sensation of travelling extremely fast. I guess that is because the train is so quite and smooth.
When the train arrived at Xinzhu I got off. I had two hours before I had to catch the train back to Banqiao. The Xinzhu Station is above ground and looks impressive and modern. The station has a Starbucks, MOS Burger and 7-Eleven so there are a few choices to grab a snack or a drink before you ride the train.
The area immediately around the train station seems very well organised. There are large car parks (nearly empty at the time of my visit) and parking bays for buses and taxis near the station entrance. A little further from the station though there is empty fields and construction sites. I imagine this area will be rapidly transformed into a new city in the next couple of years.
The photo above was taken just a short distance from the west side of the station. The crane looks a little lonely. I'd like to come back and take a photo from the same spot in one year. I am sure it will look very different.
The translation of this sign near the station is somewhat amusing. I would translate the Chinese as "pick up and drop off area". Someone else obviously had another idea.
The only problem I experienced on the trip was on the return journey. I found someone else already had a ticket for my seat. I bought the ticket on Thursday after they had already been on sale for a couple of days. Obviously the problems with the ticketing is something that the HSR has to fix, especially before the sales of tickets for the Chinese New Year holiday period. There were plenty of vacant seats nearby, so it wasn't a major problem for me.
Just three hours after my departure I arrived back at Banqiao Station. Overall I was very impressed by the experience and look forward to taking the high speed train again soon.
* * * * *
I have created a photo set at flickr and a new photo gallery for my high speed rail photos.
HSR from Taichung to Taipei
Kiss and ride the high speed rail
One year in Taiwan
Taoyuan train trip
High speed rail ready?
Mandarin ChinesePosted: January 9th, 2007 under Photos, Taiwan, Trains, Travel, Xinzhu.
Comments
Comment from David Reid
Time January 9, 2007 at 4:59 pm
I queued for about forty minutes at Banqiao last Thursday. I think it took so long because the people in front of me had some problems with their tickets. I found purchasing the ticket was no problem and only took a couple of minutes. (I purchased from the counter not the automatic machines).
I only bought a ticket for myself. I paid cash and didn’t need any ID. I don’t know if there is any requirement for ID for purchasing multiple tickets.
Comment from Haitien
Time January 9, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Great analysis and photos. Seems to be similar to what I observed during my trip on the HSR to Taichung. I’m curious if you had a chance to look at some of the options for connecting to other types of transportation at Hsinchu?
Comment from David Reid
Time January 10, 2007 at 8:14 am
I didn’t make any detailed inquiries. However, there were buses, taxis and rental cars available there.
Comment from Shi-ru
Time January 10, 2007 at 1:30 pm
ㄟ，我以為上面有速度表ㄟ，因為我看我朋友拍回來的照片上面有顯示公里速啊！因為他們特地拍300公里/小時大家再歡呼的照片說
Comment from miao-ah
Time January 10, 2007 at 6:41 pm
Very exciting! I can’t wait to ride the THSR to Kaohsiung myself! As far as the “Kiss and Ride” sign, this is probably borrowed from the Americans. I’ve seen “Kiss and Ride” at metro stations and “Kiss and Fly” at airports in Atlanta, Georgia.
Comment from David Reid
Time January 10, 2007 at 8:06 pm
我有點失望因為我只有一次看到250公里/小時。那個螢幕也顯示氣象報告和下一站的名字。因為從板橋到新竹的時間不長沒時間顯示速度。
Comment from David Reid
Time January 10, 2007 at 9:28 pm
Interesting, so it is not just a peculiar Taiwanese translation of English.
Comment from taipeimarc
Time January 11, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Nice photos and write-up David! Thanks. Actually, I worked for the company that designed the ticketing software for a short time. All I can say is that I saw it coming. I had many meetings with the programmers about “what-if’s”, but it seemed like they were too busy to just get the basics finished. In fairness to them, it was a big project and several companies had to work together to coordinate the details.
I’m wondering if the excitement is from the discount tickets now or if there is real interest. From the feedback I’ve been hearing, many people were worried about the safety and would wait a year before they rode the train. I hope for everyone’s sake the THSRC management can smooth out all the details and make this a safe transportation alternative. I may go to Tainan on
it next week.
Comment from David Reid
Time January 11, 2007 at 6:40 pm
Interesting to hear your perspective Marc. I see you’ve written about it on your blog and there was an article on the problems with the ticketing system in today’s Taipei Times.
Comment from Mark S.
Time January 11, 2007 at 9:16 pm
When the Muzha MRT line first opened, many were worried about how safe it would be. There was a lot of talk then of waiting six months or a year to ride it.
Chen Shui-bian, who was mayor at the time, had them run an empty MRT train at full speed around one of the bends to show that it wouldn’t tip over. (Not a good idea; but it worked out OK.) After that many people felt reassured. But I don’t think anyone’s going to be willing to try that with the high-speed train!
Comment from Shi-ru
Time January 22, 2007 at 3:25 pm
hi! David, I took the THSRD to Tainan last Friday and if I remembered right, the staff says the speed does reach 300km/hr after Taichung (from Taichung to Chayi and from Chayi to Tainan). But because the screen also shows the weather so you got to be lucky to see 300 on the screen. On my way, even I can feel that the train is speeding up and probably around 300, the fastest speed I saw is also around 297.
Pingback from David on Formosa » Kiss and ride the high speed rail
Time January 23, 2007 at 7:59 pm
[...] In my post about my trip to Xinzhu on the high speed rail I included a photo of this \”Kiss and Ride\” sign. [...]
Pingback from Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » Taiwan: kiss and ride
Time February 16, 2007 at 3:14 pm
[...] Mr.6 comments on the effect of (zh) David Reid’s blog post on the “kiss and ride” road sign near Hsinchu station of Taiwan High-Speed railway. The discussion about the use of “kiss and ride” in David’s blog entry has been picked up by many English newspaper both in Taiwan and abroad in the form of cultural dialogue. Mr. 6 thinks that Taiwanese bloggers who are mainly blogging in Chinese should have more conversation with the English bloggers, while David told Mr.6 that a new startup produced by David and his Israeli geek friend will soon be on the table. Portnoy [...]
Comment from totem
Time April 10, 2007 at 12:28 am
I like “Kiss and Ride”, although the translation is not in a direct way.
Pingback from 潑猴的日記 » 台灣英文
Time May 6, 2007 at 12:48 pm
[...] 前幾天Mr. 6寫了一片文章關於David Reid 寫的台中快鐵招牌. 文章裡提到一些在台灣用英文寫網路日記的老外, 還有提到我. 之後寫這句話: “目前，他們還是活在自己的小圈圈裡”. [...]
Pingback from David on Formosa » HSR from Taichung to Taipei
Time January 3, 2008 at 8:13 am
[...] It is almost a year since Taiwan's High Speed Rail system opened. Last night I took the 5:16 train from Taichung up to Taipei and made it to my evening class at NCCU with time to spare. The furtherest I'd been on the HSR before was from Taipei to Xinzhu. [...]
Comment from Mark S.
Time January 9, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Sounds great! I’m wondering about buying tickets. I see that line in Banqiao station in the mornings on my way to Taoyuan via the regular rail system and I’ve wondered just how long it takes to get through.
Also, do you know if you need others’ ID if you want to book more than one seat?