The Taiwan Railway EMU400 was an electric train purchased by

Taiwan Railways Administration Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) was a governmental agency in Taiwan which operated Taiwan Railway from 1948 to 2023. It managed, maintained, and operated conventional passenger and freight Rail transport, railway services on of track. Pa ...

from

Union Carriage & Wagon Union Carriage & Wagon (UCW) is a rolling stock manufacturer in South Africa. It presently functions as one of the two South African subsidiaries of the French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom. History Union Carriage & Wagon was established in ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in 1990. It was the first generation of commuter electric trains for Taiwan Railways. During its operating life, a total of 48 vehicles in 12 groups were used on

commuter train Commuter rail or suburban rail is a passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Commuter rail systems can use locomotive-hauled tr ...

services between

Hsinchu Hsinchu (, ), officially Hsinchu City, is a city located in northwestern Taiwan. It is the most populous city in Taiwan that is not a special municipality, with estimated 450,655 inhabitants. Hsinchu is a coastal city bordering the Taiwan ...

and

Keelung Keelung ( ; zh, p=Jīlóng, c=基隆, poj=Ke-lâng), Chilung or Jilong ( ; ), officially known as Keelung City, is a major port city in northeastern Taiwan. The city is part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area with neighboring New Ta ...

, replacing the non-air-conditioned commuter buses formerly used along the route. Following the introduction of the

EMU800 series The EMU800 is a series of electric multiple unit train used by the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA). Introduction The EMU800 series was purchased in response to increasing passenger volume and electrification of branch lines, which diverted ...

, all EM400 trains were withdrawn from service in 2015.

History of introduction

When the EMU400 was introduced in 1990, the typical trains used by Taiwan Railways for commuter services were simple express units without

air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C (US) or air con (UK), is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior temperature, and in some cases, also controlling the humidity of internal air. Air c ...

, despite the prevalence of railway electrification at the time. The

Edmondson railway ticket The Edmondson railway ticket was a system for recording the payment of railway fares and accounting for the revenue raised, introduced in the 1840s.Farr, M (1997). "Edmondson, Thomas". In: Simmonds and Biddle (1997), Page 141 It is named after ...

system was still used. In order to cooperate with Taiwan Railway MRT and improve ride comfort, plans were made to introduce an electric EMU train as a replacement for the diesel express that ran between

and northern

. The EMU 400 had a demonstration run on November 9, 1990 with an invitation to the general public to ride the train, before opening for official service the next day. In November 2006, a new type of local train was launched and the fare system used on the Fu-Hsing Semi-Express was adopted.

Technical specifications and construction details

Overview

An EMU 400 trainset was composed of groups of 4 cars: EM cars (driving motor cars), EP cars (electric cars), ET cars (trailers) and EMC cars (driving motor cars, with a driver’s cabin). Up to 4 groups of 16 vehicles could be connected in operation. The

traction motors A traction motor is an electric motor used for propulsion of a vehicle, such as locomotives, electric or hydrogen vehicles, or electric multiple unit trains. Traction motors are used in electrically powered railway vehicles (electric multiple u ...

were installed in the EM and EMC cars, the

pantograph A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a Linkage (mechanical), mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a se ...

was located on the EP cars, and generators were installed in the ET cars. There were additional ET cars, so that the previous EMU200 and

EMU300 Tze-Chiang (), also Tzu-chiang or Ziqiang, is a type of limited express train service operated by Taiwan Railway (TR). Of the five service classes operated by TR, the Tze-Chiang service is the fastest. Ticketing is done on the basis of mileage ( ...

three-car grouping method was changed to a group of four, with the same design later extended to EMU500, EMU600 and subsequent models.

Appearance

The train’s initial livery had it painted in ultramarine blue (F09, Ultramarine, NCS color code 3355-R80B) and cloud white (G80, Cloud white, NCS color code 0704-G38Y) according to the South African national standard SANS 1091. The Taiwan Railway Administration emblem, car number and other identifiers also use ultramarine blue. The lower edge on both sides of the car body is designed to be curved inward, which is a feature of this model. The original design of each car body has 3 doors on each side, but the final design adopted has only 2 doors on each side, located close to the center of the carriage. The automatic door and station display on each carriage – the first to be seen on Taiwan Railway equipment – is a black background with white characters. After several overhauls of the train, the ultramarine livery was gradually changed to dark blue, and the station display board was changed to a red LED. In 2010, in conjunction with a platform height enhancement project, the train also saw renovation of the steps in the door openings, the last modification to the train.

Interior

When the train was introduced, it used grab handles of a similar design to those used on the

Taipei City , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Countr ...

bus in the 1990s. The interior had olive green fabric seat fabric and a black floor. Later, the grab handles were changed to be the same as those used in the EMU500 trains with a change of fabric on the seats. The fabric was replaced with the same dark green one used in the

EMU500 The EMU500 series is a series of electric multiple unit passenger trains operated by Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA). The trains are built as local trains and are used throughout the country's rail network. History In the 1990s, the TRA w ...

, and the floor was changed to a green pattern, similar to that used in the EMU500, but with a darker color. The cars also have floor columns near the doors and ceiling

grab bars Grab bars are safety devices designed to enable a person to maintain balance, lessen fatigue while standing, hold some of their weight while maneuvering, or have something to grab onto in case of a slip or fall. A caregiver may use a grab bar to a ...

to accommodate a larger number of passengers. The center of the ceiling is equipped with a square grid pattern pointing in the direction of the operator, where the loudspeaker and the air conditioning’s return outlet are hidden. The air conditioning outlet is slightly widened, which is a unique feature of this type of car. The through-door between the carriages is a double-fold sliding door; it is the only model of Taiwan Railways equipment to adopt this design.

Retirement

After the EMU400 trains were removed from regular service in October 2015, some were parked in Taiwan Railway's Qidu Yard. A few units were discovered to have been covered in graffiti. A railway official said the matter had been reported to the police.

References

{{Taiwanloco

EMU400 series The Taiwan Railway EMU400 was an electric train purchased by Taiwan Railways Administration from Union Carriage & Wagon of South Africa in 1990. It was the first generation of commuter electric trains for Taiwan Railways. During its operating li ...