Spring Festival travel rush alert: Taiwan Railways and High-Speed Rail transportation updates

Written/compiled and reported by the editorial team of MOOK Travel Life Network

With six consecutive days off for the Spring Festival this year, a massive surge of people traveling back home or going on trips is expected. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has designated the period from February 16 to February 24 — a total of nine days — as the official Spring Festival transport period. To help travelers avoid traffic jams, various public transport services will offer extra runs, so the public is encouraged to make use of them.

● Taiwan Railways

To handle Spring Festival travel demand, Taiwan Railways will operate a total of 455 additional train services of various types this year and attach 917 extra carriages. In addition, to ease peak-hour congestion, discounted “Red Eye” trains (6 services at 30% off) and 6 services of Tze-Chiang Limited Express trains (at 20% off) will be available during the off-peak periods just before and after the main holiday rush. Other Tze-Chiang trains excluding the Taroko and Puyuma models will also offer a 10% discount on round-trip tickets.

Additionally, to expand transport capacity, Taiwan Railways will trial open-seating (“free seating”) arrangements on the Taroko and Puyuma trains during this Spring Festival. From February 17 to 23 (a seven-day period), six additional all-open-seating train services will be added daily on the Taipei–Hualien and Taipei–Taitung routes. Designated cars 7 and 8 will be open seating, but tickets will not be sold in advance — they must be purchased on the day of travel during ticket office operating hours at the station.