The Taiwan Railways Administration has been in hot water recently due to a strike by the Taiwan Railways Labor Union over a busy holiday weekend.
The first railway in Taiwan was constructed in 1893, during the rule of China’s Qing Dynasty, which, by that point in time, extended to Taiwan. The line was only about 100 kilometers long, and already in poor condition by the time Taiwan was handed over to Japan in 1895.
Over the 50 years of Japanese rule, Taiwan’s railway system was greatly expanded, connecting the north and the south of the Taiwan island along its west coast.
In 1945, Taiwan was again handed over to China’s KMT government, which established the Taiwan Railways Administration three years later. It wasn’t until 1979, however, that the main western line was fully electrified. In 1991 the southern tips of western and eastern lines were connected, closing the railway loop circling Taiwan. TRA currently operates 12 lines with 241 stations along its 1065 km of railroad. In 2018, Taiwanese trains carried over 231 million passengers.
The Taiwan Railways Labor Union organized a strike last weekend during which union members took their legally-allotted time off and refused to work overtime. This resulted in an island-wide suspension of service. Workers were protesting government plans to corporatize TRA, which is riddled with debt and inefficiencies, at least according to the government.
However, bad weather and a surge in COVID-19 cases compelled many people to stay home over that weekend, rendering the strike less effective. It is still unclear whether the union and authorities will reach a compromise.