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High speed rail or the regular train — which one am I looking at?

Short answer

Two separate railways with separate tickets and separate gates. High speed rail runs twelve stations down the west coast at up to 300 km/h; the conventional railway covers everywhere else, including the east. In Taipei they share a building and nothing else.

A Taiwan High Speed Rail train at the platform in Taipei Main Station

Two operators, not two services

High speed rail runs the western corridor and stops at twelve stations: Nangang, Taipei, Banqiao, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Taichung, Changhua, Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan and Zuoying. Top speed is 300 km/h, which is what makes Taipei to Kaohsiung and back a day trip.

Everything the high speed line does not reach is the conventional railway's job — the east coast, the small towns, the stations with names you will not find on the high speed map. If your destination is not on the list above, you are looking for the other railway.

Where they meet, and why that confuses people

At Taipei the two share a building. You leave the high speed platforms at B1 or B3 and walk a corridor to the conventional railway's ticket gate area, also at B1 or B3, for northbound trains to Keelung and Yilan or southbound to Wanhua.

A corridor is the whole of the connection. The ticket gates are separate because the ticketing is separate: a high speed ticket does not open a conventional gate, and one journey planned as "the train" can turn out to be two purchases.

Three kinds of high speed ticket

Business car and standard car both come with a reserved seat for a specific train. The third kind, non-reserved, is not tied to a departure — you take any free seat in the non-reserved cars on the day you travel.

Tickets come from station counters, vending machines and convenience stores. Early-bird fares exist, along with multi-ride, senior and child tickets, each priced differently.

Good to know

  • Twelve high speed stations, all on the west coast
  • East coast and small towns mean the conventional railway
  • Separate tickets and separate gates, even inside Taipei Station
  • Non-reserved tickets are not tied to a departure time

Sources: Tourism Administration — Taiwan High Speed Rail · Taiwan High Speed Rail — Taipei Station information · Updated

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