Taiwan High-Speed Rail Takes Delivery of First Japan-Built N700ST Train

Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. received its first N700ST train from Japan on August 15, when the 12-car set was unloaded from a cargo ship at Kaohsiung Port in southern Taiwan. The delivery marks the latest chapter in nearly two decades of cooperation between Taiwan's operator and Japanese shinkansen technology.

The N700ST is based on the N700S model used on Central Japan Railway's Tokaido Shinkansen between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka. Built by a Hitachi-Toshiba consortium under a contract reportedly worth around 124 billion yen, the roughly 300-metre train operates at up to 300 km/h and carries Toshiba SCiB lithium-ion batteries as backup power in the event of an outage.

Taiwan High Speed Rail has ordered 12 such trainsets -- 144 cars in total -- to replace and expand its aging fleet. The first is scheduled to enter commercial service as early as July 2027, with the remaining 11 arriving in stages through 2028. Once the full order is in service, expected by September 2028, peak-hour capacity on the line is projected to rise by around 25%.