Puyuma Express

A Puyuma Express at Shulin Station.

The Puyuma Express (Chinese: 普悠瑪號; pinyin: Pǔyōumǎ Hào) is an express tilting train service of the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA). It began commercial operations on 6 February 2013 during the Chinese New Year.

The Puyuma Express was commissioned by the TRA in order to upgrade the Taiwanese rail system. As the mountains of Taiwan are a barrier to coast-to-coast transportation, vehicular travel is vulnerable to traffic and crowding. The high speed and capacity of the Puyuma Express helps to alleviate this problem. The Puyuma Express also increases the TRA's passenger capacity. The maximum operational speed of the Puyuma Express is 150 km/h (93 mph), making it the TRA's fastest service. The Puyuma Express belongs to the Tzu-Chiang Limited Express class of TRA services, and the tickets are sold at the same price as the regular Tzu-Chiang; however, it is a reservation-only service similarly to the Taroko Express, with no standing passengers allowed.

Naming

The name "Puyuma" comes from a Taitung place and the leader of Beinan people and meaning "collective and getting together", one of Taiwan's most popular tourist spots and the Puyuma people. It was chosen after a naming contest that was open to the public.

History

The trains were imported to Taiwan in 2012; since 2013, they have been running between Hualien and Taipei, on the curvy Yilan Line at the existing narrow gauge tracks, where they reduced traveling time between the two places from previously 3 hours down to about 2 hours. On 28 February 2013, the TRA announced that Taitung would become a destination on the Puyuma with official operations beginning July 16, 2014, in concord with the completion of electrification of the Taitung Line.

Rolling Stock

The Puyuma Express (普悠瑪列車) uses the TEMU2000 tilting electrical multiple unit series purpose-built by Nippon Sharyo. The TRA purchased a total of 136 Puyuma cars. The first 16 cars arrived on 25 October 2012.