TOKYO - Taiwan Transportation and Communications
Minister Lin Ling-san inspected the operations of the control
center of the Shinkansen bullet train in Tokyo Thursday.
As Taiwan's high-speed-railway corporation will soon be
running its own bullet train and control system, Lin
wanted to see the system in action and was guided by
officials of the Tokai Shinkansen International
Department on his tour of the control center.
Hiromasa Tanaka, an advisor to
Tokai Shinkansen, told Lin that the Shinkansen railway was
constructed in 1964 with Japan's geographical environment
- frequent earthquakes, abundant rainfall and dense
population - taken fully into account. Taiwan's
environment is similar to Japan's and, therefore, the
Shinkansen system is suitable for the country, said Tanaka.
The bullet train is famous for its
safety, high speed and punctuality. Lin was impressed by
the fact that the bullet train he took from Osaka to
Tokyo ran precisely on time.
The 700-model
train, with 16 cars capable of carrying 1,232
passengers, is scheduled to go into service in Taiwan in
October 2005.
Lin came to Japan last
Sunday to inspect the facilities at Kansai International Airport
and to attend the christening of a freighter ordered
by Taiwan's Yangming Marine Transport Corp in
Kagawa prefecture. He was to visit the Tokyo office
of the Taiwan Visitors Association on Friday to
promote Taiwan as a tourist destination. Taiwan plans to
double its number of foreign visitors by 2008.
