page_title: Taiwan High Speed Rail
section_title: Build-Operate-Transfer
hierarchical_section_title: Taiwan High Speed Rail / History / Build-Operate-Transfer
caption_attribution_description: English: The Eurotrain, a combination of ICE 2 powerheads 402 046 (in front), 402 042 (behind) and the eight-car set of trailers from TGV Duplex trainset #224 in-between, at Munich-Laim on April 4th, 1998. Deutsch: Der Eurotrain, eine Kombination aus den ICE-2-Triebköpfen 402 046 (vorne), 402 042 (hinten) und die 8-Wagen-Wagenkomposition aus TGV-Duplex-Zugeinheit 224 dazwischen, in München-Laim am 17.4.1998. Français&#160;: L'Eurotrain est composé d'une rame de 8 voitures DUPLEX à deux niveaux d'Alsthom, encadrée de deux motrices D'ICE Siemens. Cet accouplement inhabituel était destiné à des essais en vue de répondre à un appel d'offre de Taïwan, non conclu. Vue en gare de Münich-Laim le 17 avril 1998.
context_page_description: Taiwan High Speed Rail is the high-speed railway of Taiwan consisting of one line that runs approximately 350 km along the west coast, from the capital Taipei to the southern city of Kaohsiung. With construction and operations managed by a private company, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation, which also operates the line, the total cost of the project was NT$513.3 billion in 1998. At the time it was built, this was one of the world's largest privately funded rail construction schemes. The system is based primarily on Japan's Shinkansen.
  The railway opened for service on 5 January 2007, with trains running at a top speed of 300 km/h, currently running from Nangang to Zuoying in as little as 1 hour and 45 minutes, reaching almost 90% of Taiwan's population. Most intermediate stations on the line lie outside the cities served; however, a variety of transfer options, such as free shuttle buses, conventional rail, and metros have been constructed to facilitate transport connections.
  Ridership initially fell short of forecasts, but grew from fewer than 40,000 passengers per day in the first few months of operation to over 129,000 passengers per day in June 2013.
context_section_description: In November 1994, Taiwan passed a law regarding the use of private finance in infrastructure projects, which also applied to the up-to-then state-run THSR project. Consequently, in 1995, POHSR was transformed into the Bureau of High Speed Rail (BOHSR), which started to tender THSR as a build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme in October 1996.
  The bidding process pitted Taiwan High Speed Rail Consortium (THSRC) against the Chunghwa High Speed Rail Consortium (CHSRC). THSRC's bid was based on the high-speed technology platform of Eurotrain, a joint venture between GEC-Alsthom, the main maker of the French TGV, and Siemens, the main maker of the German ICE, while CHSRC's bid was based on Japanese Shinkansen technology supplied by Taiwan Shinkansen Consortium (TSC), a joint venture of Japanese companies. THSRC, which submitted the lower bid and promised to build the line with zero net cost from the government, was chosen as preferred bidder in September 1997. The group was renamed and formally established as the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC) in May 1998. THSRC and the government signed the BOT agreement on 23 July 1998.
  However, controversy arose during rolling-stock selection. In May 1999, as THSRC faced difficulties in raising capital, the government of Japan promised soft loans if THSRC switched to TSC. Although Eurotrain promised to match TSC's financial proposal, the Eschede train disaster in combination with TSC offering the newer 700 Series Shinkansen, convinced THSRC to reopen its core system bid, ultimately resulting in TSC selected as the preferred rolling-stock supplier in December 1999. Although Eurotrain eventually conceded in the bid, in February 2001 it filed for a US$800 million damage claim against THSRC at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre. After a lengthy arbitration process, the court ruled in March 2004 that THSRC should pay a compensation for the US$32.4 million Eurotrain spent on development and US$35.7 million for unjust enrichment. THSRC agreed to pay US$65 million (US$89 million with interest) to Eurotrain in November 2004.
caption: The 1998 Eurotrain demonstrator train in Germany. Originally Eurotrain was the preferred technology – German ICE motive power and French TGV rolling stock – but following the ICE disaster at Eschede and a soft loan offer from the Japanese Government, Shinkansen technology was adopted.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Pixelmator 3.6", "Image DateTime": "2020:06:24 16:06:59", "Image ExifOffset": "150", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:06:04 21:47:52", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:06:04 21:47:52", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "800", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "470"}