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By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) yesterday began the third retendering process for procuring rail cars and locomotives, saying that all experienced manufacturers are welcome to join the bid.
“We will take various factors into consideration to complete the procurement, including train safety, technology, operation and financial planning,” the company said in a statement.
The high-speed rail operator issued the statement after Japan-Republic of China Diet Members’ Consultative Council Chairman Keiji Furuya twice mentioned the THSRC’s rolling stock procurement plan during his three-day visit to Taiwan: Once in a meeting with Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Monday and another in a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Tuesday.
“Japan’s Shinkansen [bullet train] has proven itself to be a world-class train system and won the trust of Taiwanese. THSRC is a symbol of solid friendship between Taiwan and Japan, for which the two countries must cooperate,” he said.
THSRC said that it began implementing the new rolling stock procurement plan in 2019, after a comprehensive review of the loading factor on weekdays, weekends and holidays, forecast ridership growth and maintenance, as well as train operation and dispatch.
“However, both the first and second tenders were aborted due to unreasonably high prices quoted by manufacturers. Parts of bidding documents were not compliant with tendering requirements,” the company said. “As a possible solution, we are considering an alternative procurement strategy by negotiating with a third-party contractor.”
Local news media reported that THSRC had signed a contract with the Japanese train manufacturers of Shinkansen to purchase four sets of high-speed rail trains in 2012, which cost about NT$6.8 billion (US$224.64 million at the current exchange rate).
However, during the second tender for the procurement, the price quoted by manufacturers was NT$5 billion per train set, far exceeding the market price, the report said.
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