 rail transport in taiwan consists of 1496&nbsp;km (as of 2003) of railway networks. though no longer as dominant as it once was, rail transport is an extremely important form of transportation in taiwan due to high population density, especially along the densely populated western corridor. in 2011, over 863.4 million passengers used the rail systems in taiwan, averaging 2.36 million passengers per day. the railways of taiwan include conventional rail, rapid transit systems, and high-speed rail, as well as specialized railways for tourists and industry. taiwan railways administration is an associate member and taiwan high speed rail is an active member of the international union of railways (uic), even though taiwan does not have state membership. rail transport was introduced to taiwan in 1891 during its late qing era). push car railways were brought to taiwan during japanese rule and were in general service from 1895 to the late 1940s. the island of taiwan is the only part of the present-day republic of china to have rail transport (i.e., none of the small offshore islandsâquemoy (kinmen), matsu islands, pratas, wuchiu or taipingâhave rail transport). == intercity railways == there are two operators that provide intercity services in taiwan: *taiwan railway administration (èºç£éµè·¯ç®¡çå±) - tra is the main operator of most passenger services and all freight services on taiwan's 1067mm gauge traditional network. the various main lines form a loop around the island that connect most of the country's major cities, with small branch lines at various points to the interior. tra operates both intercity trains throughout taiwan, and commuter services into the major cities. *taiwan high speed rail (å°ç£é«ééµè·¯) - thsr operates services on the newly built  gauge high-speed rail line connecting taipei and kaohsiung, on a route that runs on the western side of the island. {| | | | |[[file:tzuchiang at tainan station.jpg|thumb|right|a tra tzu-chiang limited express at [[taina
Rail_transportation_in_Taiwan