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Taiwan's high-speed rail system to start trial services next week (The Associated Press circulated the following on December 28.) TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. plans to launch trial services of the island's high-speed rail system next week, after the government approved the system's launch following numerous delays, a company official said Thursday. The company still hasn't decided on the official launch date because it wants to take public opinion into account during the trial, said a Taiwan High Speed Rail public relations official who declined to be named because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media. The trials will run from Jan. 5 to Jan. 14 between Taipei and Kaohsiung, shortening travel time between the island's two main cities to 90 minutes from at least four hours. During the trial run, 19 trains will operate each day, the official said. Each train can carry 989 passengers. The government gave its final approval to the operator of the NT$480 billion (US$ 15 billion; €11.4 billion) high-speed-rail service on Monday. Construction began in 2000 with an original launch date of October 2005, but a delay in the completion of the project's core electrical systems forced a postponement of the official launch date to the end of October this year. The service was further postponed in October after the company failed to obtain a safety report from Lloyd's Register, a risk management organization. The safety report was obtained Nov. 20. The company canceled the Dec. 7 opening ceremony for the service after the government said further tests were needed before it could launch. Thursday, December 28, 2006 © 1997-2010 Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen

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