a free ride on the taiwan high speed rail

ever since the taiwan high speed rail inaugurated in january, i've been wanting to take a ride

i finally got the opportunity to do so a couple weeks ago and best of all it was free!

my company paid for the trip because i had to take a customer to ching fong located in changhua in central taiwan

chin fong is one of the largest stamping press manufacturers in the world and probably in all of taiwan

the other taiwanese brand for presses that gives chin fong a run for their money is seyi

i'd say these are on par with each other

just think of coca-cola and pepsi

the reason we had to visit chin fong is because my customer bought a 400 ton press, so since he was in town, he wanted to check on the progress of the machine and at the same time tie up some lose ends regarding logistics

as usual, lots of pictures to get to, so let's get it on...


we met at the lobby of the caesar park hotel which is right across from the taipei station. our meeting time was 7am, but i got there a little earlier than expected. i took the bus out there from my home in xinzhuang and since i never take the bus i had no idea how long it would take, so i gave myself a little extra time. a little too much extra as i got there by 6:40am. also, i can't believe how many people are out there at 6am. most of them are students too. i really feel bad for them since i see students all the time late at night (10pm-ish) carrying their books and school bags, and then they are up on the bus by 6am!?!? kids just don't get to be kids out here. that's why i plan and hope my kids do not go to school here in taiwan. anyways, that's another post for another day.


i bought the tickets online a couple days ahead of time to make sure we had seats. didn't really have to as the train was pretty empty but hey, better be safe than sorry i say. here's a look at the ticket. since the train doesn't stop in changhua, we had to stop at the taichung station, which only turned out to be about 15 ~ 20 minutes drive from the chinfong factory. look at the ticket... 49 minutes from taipei to taichung. nice! it takes at least 2 hours to drive there... on a good day without much traffic on the highway. nice!


our train.


a look inside our cabin. hmm... the inside of a plane is called the cabin. is the inside of a train called the cabin too? or is it called wagon? cart? car? anyone? anyways, i'm very impressed at how clean it was and surprised at how roomy. man, i wish economy class on an airplane was that spacious.


here's a "map" of the train detailing the amenities and facilities. click on picture to see larger version.


me and my traveling companion aldo from chile.


a few minutes into the ride, this girl came through with her shopping cart selling snacks and drinks. i'm not even sure what she was selling exactly. i remember seeing some bags of chips, cookies and her saying coffee, but that's it. she came from the back so we didn't even know she was coming through until she passed us. i really think they should come from the front so people can get a heads up. now i wonder if she had beer?










above are few shots out the window.




and we arrive at our destination. look at the time of arrival on the ticket i showed you above... now look at the time showing on this last picture. impressive! yup, same deal when we departed too. as soon as that clock on the platform turned 8:00am, we were off. that was some smooth sailing. that was nice, considering sometimes it takes just as long to drive into taipei city. i really enjoyed the ride. the one thing i'd like to complain about is how loud the trains are. i don't mean the people, i mean the train itself. i was expecting something quieter.


the view from the train platform.


inside the taichung station.


outside the station awaiting our driver.


our driver picked us up and a short 15 minutes later we arrive at our final destination. the factory is big, but not as big as i expected.


after spending the rest of the morning meeting and discussing this and that, we were given a tour of the factory after lunch. here's part of a press frame one a cnc machine.


side view of an 800 ton press going through final assembly.


a crank and shaft awaiting to be assembled.


a couple frames for straight sided presses. these are most likely for 300 or 400 ton presses. for what its worth, these are about 2 stories high.


a few more frames just sitting around waiting to get worked on then on to assembly. those to the right are some gap frame presses. most likely 110 or 160 ton presses.

are you bored yet???

here, have a laugh...


i think my head is too big for that helmet! since it's my blog, i'm just gonna go ahead and say the helmet was too small. yup, that's it. the helmet was too small!


after our tour of the factory, it was time to go. back to the station to buy tickets.


a chart showing all the stations.


awaiting for the train.


here it is...


all aboard!