I originally planned to create a short movie about my experiences about the newest train developments in Taiwan. But this takes to much time right now. So, before the already old news become absolutely no news I will share my experiences in the Taiwan High Speed Rail from Banqiao to Tainan with you.
The train at the station in Tainan
First of all I have to mention that the company building the new high-speed track on Taiwan`s west coast has been delaying the official start several times. Therefore you might need to update some travel guides, where it is written that the HSR started its service in 2006.
In fact the opening to the public started in the early weeks of January 2007 and I was one of the first... I don`t know, but definitely million travellers.
The service is running now since a few weeks, I have not been carefully following the news, but I occasionally heard about some minor problems, but nothing severe, at least yet.
The whole track has not yet been finished actually, which means that you cannot depart from Taipei itself yet, but have to get to the suburb Banqiao first. This is actually no big problem, as Banqiao is integrated in the Taipei Metro System, and the new HSR station is part of the Metro station.
Japanese high speed techniqueThe train is based on the Japanese Shikansen system, with some French technology and adapted to Taiwanese geographical needs. As far as I know the HSR preferred the Japanese offer instead of a German one, due to their experiences with earthquakes in Japan and the geographical similarities with Taiwan. Other reasons might also have been relevant.
The trains are orange and white, also the colours of the HSR company. You enter the track through automated gates, with your ticket, which has a magnetic stripe on it. This system is close to the system used in the Taipei MRT and is probably also used by other similar ways of travelling. It makes the entrance of the platforms very convenient and easy.
Business class - seats are bigger and have a different colour, as well as radio
When I was riding the train, everything went very smooth and without delay. The interior is nothing for a great appreciator of interior design. It is plain plastic in the normal class, and a bit nicer plastic in the business class. There are either three or two seats in a row, with a path in the middle between these rows.
You can turn the seats around, which makes it possible to sit in either groups of four or 6 travellers.
The seats are quite wide and they offer an amazing space for your legs, actually the largest leg space I have ever experienced when travelling.
The enormous leg space, makes the travel very convenientThere is a board integrated in the seat in front of you, which you can use to put your food or drinks on. The windows have sun protection and can be closed as you wish.
As common in Taiwanese public transport there are no trash cans integrated in the seats, but during the trip a service employee will come and collect your garbarge. There are also official vendors walking through the train and there are several vending machines, where you can get refreshing drinks.
Getting a drink at the vending machine! Cheers, but they don`t sell alcoholIn every other car you can find toilets. There are three types of toilets, for both sexes, only for men in form of a pissoir and very spacious toilets for the handicapped.
The toilets were very clean during my two trips.
The travel comfort is great, the train is compared to other trains in Taiwan, really quiet and you can hardly notice any abrupt movements, which would interfere with your travelling comfort.
The ticket prices are very high, almost as much as the plane tickets, but travelling time to the south is cut by about half the time. Yet, the newly built HSR train station are not everywhere perfectly integrated in the local public transport system, or maybe the local transport system is not developed enough yet. It takes about 1,5 hours for 300 kilometres from Banqiao to Tainan, and then you step out of the train in the middle of nowhere. Nowhere is today, and in the future there will be science-parks and other high-tech businesses located.
But for tourists this fact means that you have to take a taxi (300 NT Dollar, 7,50€) or a bus (40 NT dollars, 1 €) to down town Tainan. The prices are of course not the problem, but the bus takes about a hour, the taxi 30 minutes. Both times were monitored outside of rush-hour or other reasons for heavy traffic. This mean that you still have to add to your expensive train ticket and the time saved is become less. The normal train arrives at Tainan Main station, down town Tainan.
No recommendation for touristsLast but not least, the experience in the newly built Taiwan High Speed Rail was very positive and interesting. I think the system is rather built for the manager doing business in the North and the South of the island, with access to his own car or a driver. So that he can independetly reach to the trainstation, get on the train, arrive in Taipei and has his connection there. This way you don`t have to take the plane (which with preperation time must consume more time then the train) or you can avoid the long trip in the car and all the traffic problems.
The high price of the tickets and the inconvenient location of the train stations in the South makes the train less attractive for tourists.
Tainan HSR station, a modern and stylish symbol of self-confident architecture 
