Prior to last weekend, I think I was the only Taiwan blogger not to have ridden the Taiwan High Speed Rail [台灣高速鐵路]. The ride from Taipei to Taichung was about an hour with three stops along the way. The ride was incredibly smooth and beats taking the bus hands down. If I had a better paying job I would take it every time.
Welcome to the Economy Class. Here, a couple looks for their seats:
The best information is at the bottom: asking riders to turn their cellphones to vibrate and to speak in a soft voice… now if only subways, buses, and restaurants had the same warning the world would be much more pleasant place.
I only took one decent picture of the train as I was rushing to meet people who I thought were waiting for me… had I known they were all waiting in line at Starbucks I could have taken a few more shots.
I took a panorama of Taichung Station. It looks more like a domed sports stadium than a train station with all the curving from the auto-stitch software:
View the large
the last time i rode the THSR, it looked disgracefully dirty. i can see from your photo that the cars are still dirty.
Whatever rate they are being cleaned isn’t often enough. The inside was spotless but the outside was nothing to write home about.
I am curious, were the train cars purchased second-hand from a rail operator in another country?
How funny! I also rode the HSR on Saturday. We took the 15:00 – 16:36 from Taipei to Zuoying though. I was pretty impressed, although the high speed gave me a headache because it was so fast.
Bryan – Although they may look second-hand based on all the grime, the Taiwan High Speed 700T train is built specifically for the THSR by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Nippon Sharyo, and Hitachi, Ltd. Are your trains this dirty in Japan?
Sandy – Wow, almost on the same train! I don’t think I’ll get a chance to ride it again until next time Cathy and I go to Tainan.
you had some company there. we were the only ones that have never riden the high speed rail… now, i’m the only one left **hides in shame**
I took it back in January or February. It was quite fun, we went from Hsinchu to Taizhong and back, with a 7 minutes layover.
The speedometers are fun to watch.
i dont think the trains are that dirty. what do you expect from trains that are constantly used several times a day/month/year??? do you expect all trains to be pristinely clean as if brand new? let’s see if you keep your scooter/car spotlessly clean every day.
Bad comparison booboo, I have never charged people to ride in my car and anyone will tell you that most of the cabs around here are spotless.
Michael Klein has several grime pics: http://thenhbushman.blogspot.com/2007/03/taiwan-high-speed-rail-revisited.html
Todd,
Yes, the outside of the trains in Japan are dirty too, I was just surprised after looking at some of Michael Klein’s photos at how dirty the side of the train had become. To be fair though, I never really gave too much attention to the bullet trains in Japan. Whenever I have had to board one it has always been way before my brain starts to function in the morning.