Taiwan bullet train debuts after ticketing glitch

Taipei, Jan 5: A bullet train service as fast as Japan's Shinkansen opened in Taiwan today after a decade of planning and doubts about whether it would fly, plus an embarrassing last-minute ticketing glitch.

The 15 billion dollar bullet train, which experienced fund-raising problems before the launch, aims to cut travel time between the capital of Taipei and Kaohsiung city 345 km away in the south, to 90 minutes from four to five hours by car.

At 0430 IST today, a sold-out train with 989 seats and a black, white and orange engine resembling the nose of jetliner quietly and smoothly headed south.

''It's something brand new for us,'' said Taipei passenger Luo Pei-yi, 30, of Taipei, as she prepared to board the first train with three relatives.

''I'm not nervous, very relaxed. So many people have ridden this before,'' Luo said, referring to trial runs.

Many passengers took children and cameras on board at the Banciao station in Taipei county heading to Taichung in the middle of the island or Tsoying in the southern county of Kaohsiung. The line will eventually extend to central Taipei and the heart of urban Kaohsiung.

The bullet trains are capable of travelling at speeds of up to 315 km per hour and will ferry 150,000 passengers per day initially.

TICKETS OVERBOOKED

''We hope all is smooth and will step up all efforts,'' said Ou Chin-der, chief executive officer of the bullet train operator, the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp.

''I think my colleagues are all very excited. They're also very serious, and there's also some pressure.'' Much of the pressure came from a day and a half of ticket sales glitches. About 18,000 of the 87,000 tickets sold yesterday were duplicates, following more than three hours of standing in line for some passengers.

Ou said everyone would somehow get a seat. Local media reported that the rail corporation might add eight more trains over the next two days.

It has been 10 years in the making with some hairpin curves along the way.

Two Japanese consortia, led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., were awarded contracts for the tracks, which they built using Japanese bullet train, or Shinkansen, technology.

Fundraising issues and cost overruns dogged the construction.

Technical problems, including several minor derailments attributed to human error during trial runs late last year, hampered the project's public image.

Taiwan's high-speed rail system is the world's second to use ground-breaking Japanese bullet train technology, the fastest for conventional rails.

After an introductory discount period ends, standard tickets will cost 45 dollar for a one-way trip along the full length of the line.

The line will eventually have 12 stations, with the capacity to handle a train every three to four minutes, although actual frequencies so far are closer to one departure per hour.

REUTERS