As the first high speed railway system in Taiwan, THSRC started operation in 2007 with many foreign employees, including French and German train drivers and operation controllers in the Operation Control Center (OCC). At the same time, THSRC also started to train local drivers and controllers. Since May 2008, all controllers working in the OCC have been Taiwanese, and since October 2008, all train drivers have been Taiwanese.
The OCC's main responsibility is to maintain safe train operations. THSRC has 132 controllers (July 2012), of which about one quarter are female, working 24 hours per day and 365 days per year in the OCC. Requirements for becoming a Chief Controller (主任控制員) include experience in all nine OCC positions, 300-hours of on-the-job training and acquiring qualification.
As of July 2012, THSRC has 144 drivers, of which almost 10% are female. All driver candidates must spend 8 months completing 1,326 hours of professional training and pass the National Certification before they can drive the train. In addition, after becoming a certified high-speed train driver, they undergo further on-the-job training at least three times each year in order to guarantee they can drive the train safely.
Taiwan frequently faces multiple types of natural disasters, including typhoons, earthquakes, heavy rainfall, floods, and landslides. For this reason, a primary focus of THSRC's infrastructure design was how to respond to natural disasters such as earthquakes and how to ensure safety for all passengers and trains in any emergency situation.
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THSRC has established a system to respond to natural disasters and unexpected intrusion onto the right-of-way, called DWS (Disaster Warning Systems). This system consists of a network of sensors installed along the rail route to detect unexpected situations such as earthquakes, strong winds, heavy rainfall, floods, landslides, and intrusions. In case of an unexpected situation, the DWS will send signals to the OCC (Operation Control Center) immediately; it will also activate contingency measures to ensure the safety of the passengers and trains, including decelerating or stopping trains in the affected area.
The DWS has functioned successfully since its initial operation in 2007. The most powerful earthquake that THSRC has experienced measured 6.4 on the Richter Scale with an epicenter 17 km (11 mi) from Jiaxian, Kaohsiung that shook southern Taiwan on 4 March 2010 (甲仙地震). One operating train was slightly derailed in Sinshih, Tainan, and six trains were stopped on the track. In spite of the temporary suspension of operations, there was no damage or casualties. All 2,500 affected passengers were evacuated in two hours without injury. Service resumed the next day. Such a record was well noted, and provided valuable experience in operational safety to the global railway industry.
In April 2010, it was reported that subsidence had been observed during construction on a 6 km (3.7 mi) viaduct section in Yunlin County. The subsidence continued, reaching up to 55 cm (22 in) over seven years. By 2010 subsidence had slowed, which was ascribed to the closure of some deep groundwater wells operating in the region. Although the situation was deemed safe with differential settlement between adjacent piers along the viaduct at only a sixth of the permissible level, the BOHSR urged the closure of more wells. On 25 July 2011, the government announced plans to close almost 1,000 wells in Changhua and Yunlin counties, reducing the amount of water pumped from deep wells by 210,000,000 tonnes (2.1×1011 kg) by 2021.
Service
According to THSR's July 2018 timetable, there are 989 train services per week of operation, with operation times between 05:50 to 24:00 every day. Most southbound trains originate from Nangang station and most northbound trains originate from Zuoying; however, a few trains operate just between Nangang and Taichung or between Taichung and Zuoying. Southbound trains are designated by odd train numbers, and northbound trains by even train numbers.
Each train consists of one business car (car 6) and 11 standard cars (including reserved seats and non-reserved seats). Since July 2010, non-reserved seats are available in cars 10 through 12 (some trains have additional non-reserved seats available in other cars). Car 7 of each train is fitted with four wheelchair accessible seats and an accessible restroom. Passengers can call THSR's Customer Service Hot Line at (Taiwan) 4066-3000 or visit any THSR station ticket window to reserve these seats.
By August 2012, implementation of 4G WiMAX on-board trains is expected to provide smooth wireless broadband services, making THSR the first high-speed ground transportation system equipped with this service.
In 2012, THSRC rated highly in the CommonWealth Magazine (天下雜誌) "Golden Service Award survey" (金牌服務大賞), not only far outpacing all rivals in the "long-distance land transport" category, but also taking the top spot in the overall rankings of 300 industries.
Local connections
To improve local public transit connections to THSR stations, the TRA built two new spur lines branching off from West Coast Line.
Shalun Line for Tainan opened on 2 January 2011,
Liujia Line for Hsinchu opened on 11 November 2011.
Stop patterns
With a few exceptions, the services follow the below pattern.
Ticket fare and discount
As of January 2018, a one-way Taipei–Zuoying trip, a THSR standard car adult ticket is NT$1490, and a business car ticket fare is NT$1950. The cost of a non-reserved seat is approximately 3% less than the regular price. Business and standard car reserved ticket reservations are available 28 days prior to the date of departure (including the departure day).
Senior citizens (Taiwan citizens above 65 years of age), registered disabled persons plus one accompanying passenger (Taiwan citizens only), and children (passengers under 12 years of age) are eligible for concession (half price) tickets, whereas University students enrolled at Taiwanese Universities, including international/exchange students, are eligible for discounts ranging from 5% to 50% off the regular/early bird price on certain trains (typically either 12% or 25% off), subject to student ID checks.
A group discount is offered for groups of 11 or more. A group discount cannot be used in combination with other discount offers and does not include non-reserved seats. Passengers eligible for multiple discounts can only choose one discount offer.
Since 1 July 2010, a smart card system has provided frequent travelers with multi-ride (eight trips) or periodic tickets. THSR's contact-less smart cards allow the cardholder to travel between specific stations within a given time period for a certain number of rides. The card is sold in either registered (name-bearing) or non-registered form. Only adult tickets are available in this format, and cannot be used for rides between Banqiao and Taipei.
After purchasing or adding value to a multi-ride card, the card balance is valid for 45 days counted from the day of first use. The ticket is good for 8 rides. The multi-ride card provides a discount of about 21% off the full fare of a reserved Standard Seat. Non-registered and registered multi-ride tickets can be purchased at the ticket windows of all THSRC stations. Upon first purchase of a multi-ride ticket, a card deposit fee of NT$100 is required (refundable if the card is returned). The registered multi-ride ticket is limited to personal use by the registered cardholder.
Since November 2012, an Early Bird discount of 35% has been offered for a limited number of tickets sold no later than 8 days before the departure date. If the 35% off tickets sell out before the deadline, tickets with a discount of 20% off are offered. If these tickets sell out before the deadline, tickets with a discount of 10% off are offered. If all early bird tickets are sold out, then full fare tickets are offered.
Train frequency
THSRC operates additional train services during national holidays. On 29 June 2011, a proposal by THSRC to increase the maximum number of train services to 210 per day (compared to the existing 175 per day) passed an environmental impact assessment, increasing the number of possible services on "high-load days".
Ridership
Original estimates predicted a daily ridership of 180,000 after launch, growing to 400,000 by 2036. In view of a 50% drop in airline passengers due to the 1997 Asian financial crisis, forecasts were revised downwards. The final initial ridership estimate was 140,000 passengers per day. Actual initial ridership did not match these projections. In September 2007, six months after opening, THSRC carried 1.5 million passengers monthly, translating to about 50,000 passengers daily. In the second year, passenger numbers almost doubled. In the third year, average daily ridership continued to grow to 88,000 passengers per day, jumping to over 120,000 passengers per day in 2012. (updated to September 2012) Seat occupancy was around 45% in the first three years, with a modest improvement achieved in 2009, and reached 53.91% in 2012. (updated to September 2012) Punctuality is stable above 99%.
The 10-millionth passenger was carried after 265 days of operation on 26 September 2007, while the 100-millionth passenger was carried after 1,307 days on 3 August 2010, and 200-millionth by December 2012. On 10 October 2011, the Double Ten Day holiday, THSRC transported a single-day record of 189,386 passengers. On 5 February 2011, the third day of Lunar New Year’s celebration, a new record of 190,596 passengers was achieved. The next single-day record was reached on 25 January 2012, also the third day of Lunar New Year's celebration, at 191,989 passengers. The most recent record is 212,000 passengers transported on 1 January 2013.
The high-speed trains have successfully out-competed planes: by August 2008, half of the air routes between Taipei and the country's western cities had been discontinued, including all connections between cities with THSR stations except for a single daily connection between Taipei and Kaohsiung. Total domestic air traffic was expected to be halved from 2006 to 2008, and actually fell from 8.6 to 4.9 million. In June 2012, officials announced the discontinuation of the last remaining commercial flight between Taipei and Kaohsiung. The share for conventional rail between Taipei and Kaohsiung fell from 9.71% in 2006 to 2.5% in 2008, while high-speed rail became the most common mode of transport at 50% of all trips by 2008. The opening of THSR led to a 10% reduction of traffic on the parallel expressway in 2007. Despite cheaper ticket prices, long-distance bus companies reported that passenger volumes had fallen by 20 to 30 percent by 2008.
