TAIWAN: Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp has approved a NT$28bn contract for a consortium of Hitachi and Toshiba to supply 12 Series N700S high speed trainsets to augment the Series 700T sets that have been used since the line opened in 2007.
THSRC has been seeking to order new trainsets since 2019, both to meet demand and to reduce maintenance. Two previous tenders were cancelled after the bids came in significantly higher than expected. Although the line is based on Japanese technology, local media reported that THSRC had looked at purchasing trains outside Japan.
A third tender was launched in March 2022, with several manufacturers invited to participate in the negiotiations which led to the board arpproving the contract with Hitachi and Toshiba on March 15.
A delivery date is still to be finalised.
