THSR 700T
Taiwanese Shinkansen variant
The THSR 700T (Chinese: 台灣高鐵700T型電聯車) is a high-speed electric multiple unit trainset derived from the Japanese Shinkansen for Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR). The THSR 700T is based primarily on the 700 Series EMU that currently operates on the San'yō Shinkansen line and previously on the Tokaido Shinkansen line in Japan, with the "T" referring to Taiwan. The trains were manufactured in Japan by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Nippon Sharyo, and Hitachi, Ltd., marking the first time Japanese Shinkansen trains have been exported overseas. Thirty-four trains were delivered to THSR operator Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC), and are in regular service with a top speed of 300 kilometres per hour (186 mph) since the line's opening on January 5, 2007.
History
Taiwan's Bureau of High Speed Rail (BOHSR) started to tender THSR as a build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme in October 1996. The two competitors were the Taiwan High Speed Rail Consortium (THSRC) and the Chunghwa High Speed Rail Consortium (CHSRC). THSRC's bid was based on the high-speed technology platform called Eurotrain, which was a joint venture of GEC-Alsthom and Siemens, the respective manufacturers of the French TGV and German ICE, while CHSRC's bid was based on Japanese Shinkansen technology supplied by Taiwan Shinkansen Consortium (TSC), a joint venture of Japanese companies. THSRC was named preferred bidder in September 1997, then, after being reconstituted as the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC), it signed the BOT agreement with BOHSR on July 23, 1998. Following an offer from the Japanese government to provide cheap loans to THSRC if it switches to Shinkansen technology, in spite of an earlier agreement with Eurotrain, THSRC decided to re-tender the core systems technology contract June 1999. THSRC announced on December 28, 1999, that it would negotiate a final contract with TSC. The contract, which included the supply of rolling stock, was signed on December 12, 2000.
“THSR 700T” enters the record as taiwanese Shinkansen variant. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what THSR, 700T and Taiwanese can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q715673. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2007, 1996, 1997 and 1998.
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