Taiwan High Speed Rail looks for its 500 millionth passenger

台灣高鐵尋找其第5億次旅客

On average, each Taiwanese has traveled by high speed rail more than 21 times


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) - Aperson who bought a return ticket from Hsinchu to Taichung Monday morning was Taiwan High Speed Rail’s 500 millionth passenger and could look forward to a whole year of free travel as well as a holiday for two, reports said Tuesday.

Because the same person actually bought two tickets, he won prizes both for being passenger No.499,999,999 and for being the 500 millionth traveler, the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC) said.

According to the company’s information, the person bought a return ticket by credit card at the Hsinchu high speed rail station at 8:12 a.m. Monday. The ticket numbers were 0510202040052 and 0510202040053 respectively, the Central News Agency reported.

The holiday trip for two persons was awarded to the two ticket buyers before the 500 millionth and to the two buyers after.

The earliest of the group bought his ticket at the Changhua station with cash Monday and boarded a train to Nangang in Taipei City. The two last prize winners bought a ticket with cash from Miaoli to Taipei and by EasyCard from Banqiao to Nangang.

The ticket numbers were 0820102040006, 0620202040070 and 2806967695 respectively, according to CNA.

Reaching the 500 millionth passenger meant that on average, each resident of Taiwan had traveled by high speed train at least 21 times, THSRC said.

The service started operating in January 2007 on the line which from Taipei City to Kaohsiung City