Taiwan High Speed Rail Ticket Booking
An introduction to the Taiwan HSR Stations and how to book HSR tickets.
Taiwan's HSR or High Speed Rail network has allowed travelers to commute across Taiwan's main cities quickly and with relative ease. Spanning across the island, there are 12 HSR stations traveling in one north-south line. From the first to the last station, it takes a maximum of 2 hours 30 minutes, depending on the number of stopovers in between stations. As below, the straight line distance from point to point is already 277km. The fastest train is about 1 hour 45 minutes.
Train Fares
Fares and prices vary and between seasons, there are also promotional fares that offer over 50% discount off ticket prices. For more information about fares, I have extracted a table from the Taiwan HSR website and pasted it below.
In general, children less than 12 years old are offered discounted fares of 50% off, provided that those about 150cm tall are able to produce identification stating they are less than 12 years old. Another interesting feature is a group discount, which is offered to 11 more than passengers (that is a minimum of 12 passengers).
Multiple rides and early bird discounts are especially useful for tourists who are able to plan their trip in advance.
Booking Tickets and Timetable
The HSR website has a "Timetable and Fare Search" which is user friendly and easy to navigate. First start by getting onto the HSR main landing page.
Step 1: Main landing page (http://www2.thsrc.com.tw/index_en.html?force=1)
Select the station you wish to start from, and your destination. The time of departure can be just an approximated time, that is fine. However, the trains are prompt in timing, it is therefore best to be able to estimate the transit time required to get to the station as you begin your journey.
Step 2: Time Table Search Result
(http://www2.thsrc.com.tw/en/TimeTable/SearchResult)
Clicking on the top right button "Display complete timetable for 2017/04/02" would load a page displaying the full day's schedule of all trains and stations. Here's an example of what it looks like.
Take note of the number of stopovers from the above picture, and usually there are quite a number of trains passing through similar destinations but the number stops affect the travel time, so do take note of this.
Step 3: Online Booking
(https://irs.thsrc.com.tw/IMINT?locale=en)
Steps 1 and 2 may seem to lead to a link to click to purchase a ticket. I might be wrong but that does not seem to be the case. On the top right hand side of the HSR website is a "24h Online Booking" link. Click to start booking and purchasing your ticket.
The booking page after loading looks like this:
If you select a departure date that allows Discount Trains to be checked, click it to display discounted fares. In my example below, I am entitled to 10% early bird discounts for my Taipei to Taichung trip.
After selecting the trains of your choice, there is a "Confirm" button on the bottom right after the table displaying "Trip Details". Click on Confirm to proceed to the next page.
A tip here for foreigners to note is the passport number is alphanumeric characters but the last 4 characters does not allow for alphabets in that field.
Also, the contact number is a mandatory field, but in its notes, there is a request that this field is meant for a local Taiwan number. There is no point entering your country code with a "+country code" in front. Enter a 10 digit phone number to proceed. As long as the email is accurate, that should suffice.
Step 4: Reservation Complete
A page displaying your reservation number and the trip details is proof of your reservation. At this point, you will receive an email of the reservation details as well.
Proceed to make payment either physically at the locations below (convenience stores or HSR stations) or make payment online.
Collecting or Purchasing Tickets
I find this instructional video informative.
This video shows clearly the ticketing station in which you can either queue to buy tickets or purchase from the machines.
Taoyuan Airport to HSR transfer
Do note that the international airport Taoyuan is at Taoyuan HSR station and not Taipei. There are shuttle buses that take travelers from the airport to the HSR station. I've added this to an earlier post on how to get to Cingjing or Hehuan Mountain from Taoyuan Airport. For more information, you may check out the airport's website at the link here. The estimated time required to get from airport to HSR station is less than 30 minutes. The cost of which is TWD30 per ticket.
Navigating through the Taipei Main Station Hall
Commuters who are rushing and if it is your first time in Taipei and the Chinese language is not your forte, it is best to get an understanding of how to get to the HSR station. The Main Station connects passengers transferring from the subway to the high speed rail and the Taiwan rail network (TRA). Hence it is a rather large building with several exits and below ground level.
Here are some common forum threads talking about the Taipei Main Station.
1. Tripadvisor Forum - "Is the HSR Station in Taipei located at/near the Taipei Main Station, please?" (linked from here)
2. Tripadvisor Forum - "The B1 of Taipei main station is it same as Taipei HSR?Or how long is the walking distance from Taipei HSR?" (linked from here)
3. Tripadvisor Forum - "13 March 2008, 15:45LOL! We found out how huge it was also ... at 7 pm ... we were wandering around trying to find a place to eat. We had 2 tired kids that were starving and the 4 adults starting to get grumpy... it took FOREVER to find our way to food." (linked from here)
Other Resources
The Taipei Main Station is usually where the confusion arises because it is the busiest and largest HSR station connecting HSR, Taiwan Railway, the Metro/Subway and interlinks with hotels and malls. It is also a starting point for travelers making their way to sightseeing within Taipei or when they head out to other cities and counties.
Here are some useful resources regarding the Taipei Main Station. I found this website Guide to Taiwan to be particularly informative.
Taipei Main Station Map:
Update:
I've posted an article on the Pingxi Line One Day Pass which also includes single trip bookings and tourists passes for the THSR and TRA (Joint Passes). Do read up more here: Pingxi Line One Day Pass
There's also a related post on the Pingxi Railway Line that cuts through the old streets of Jiufen (Chiufen) and Shifen, popular tourists destinations to soak up a piece of rich Taiwanese history, fresh air and good food!