High-Speed Rail Holiday Service Expansion & Ticket Booking Info for Dragon Boat Festival

Text by / MOOK Scenic Spots Family compiled report

The 2017 Dragon Boat Festival features a four-day consecutive holiday. To meet the travel needs of passengers returning home or going on trips, Taiwan High Speed Rail has planned a six-day service operation from May 26 (Friday) to May 31 (Wednesday). During this period, 156 additional train services (64 southbound and 92 northbound) will be operated, providing a total of 967 train services. Passengers may start purchasing tickets for the Qingming and Dragon Boat Festival holidays from midnight on April 29 (Saturday) via convenient retail stores partnered with the high-speed rail, online booking systems, the T Express mobile ticketing app, the voice reservation system, or at ticket windows and ticket vending machines at all stations during business hours to pre-book all required tickets for the holiday period.

In addition, in conjunction with the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, June 3 (Saturday) has been designated a workday. On that day, the high-speed rail company will operate 5 additional train services during commuting hours to serve passengers. During the Taiwan High Speed Rail’s Dragon Boat Festival service operation period, 401 train services are covered by the “Early Bird Discount,” accounting for over 41% of the total services during the operation period. Passengers who purchase tickets 5 to 28 days before their travel date may be eligible for Early Bird discounts of 65%, 80%, or 90%. (For the list of train services eligible for the “University Student Discount” and “Early Bird Discount” during the service operation period, please refer to the detailed information on the official Taiwan High Speed Rail corporate website.) The “Standard Class Cardholder Discount” and “Business Class Limited Upgrade” promotions will still be available during the service operation period. However, promotions such as the “Off-Peak Discount on Weekdays,” “Groups of 25 or More,” and “School Excursions” will not be applicable during this time.

Based on past travel demand during the Dragon Boat Festival, the high-speed rail company has planned 3 to 5 non-reserved seating cars for each service. Furthermore, the West Station of Nangang Transfer Station has officially opened, with multiple bus operators traveling to and from Keelung and Yilan regions commencing operations there. Taiwan Railways has also adjusted its schedule, modifying multiple HSR services to and from Hualien by adding stops at Nangang Station. It is recommended that passengers traveling to or from Neihu, Nangang, Songshan, Xinyi, Xizhi, Keelung, Ruifang, and Yilan make use of the nearby Nangang Station for boarding and alighting to save valuable travel time.