TRC could see NT$12 billion loss in 1st year as company

Taipei, Dec. 23 (CNA) Taiwan Railway Corp. (TRC) will likely post losses of NT$12 billion (US$367 million) in 2024, its first year as a state-owned corporation after having been a government agency for many decades, according to TRC data.

The projected loss would exceed the estimated loss of over NT$7.4 billion budgeted last year and the NT$11.4 billion loss the former Taiwan Railways Administration posted for 2023.

TRC data showed that the company's core railway business will likely lose NT$13 billion in 2024, up NT$379 million year-on-year.

It will also be saddled with an additional NT$2 billion in expenses that TRC Chairman Du Wei (杜微) told CNA were needed to convert the former government agency into a commercial company.

These included increasing the employee welfare fund from an originally budgeted NT$1.2 billion to NT$2.3 billion, spending NT$600 million more than in 2023 on railcar depreciation, and paying NT$200 million in fees related to asset transfers, Du said.

The roughly NT$15 billion in losses were expected to be somewhat offset by an expected NT$3.39 billion in income from side businesses, such as bento sales, land development and leasing.

Du said the company generally struggled on the revenue side in its first year. Property transfers reduced the TRC's rental income, and the ongoing freeze in fares that have reminded unchanged for nearly 30 years made it hard to increase core business revenue, he said.

The TRC chairman remained upbeat about the company's future, however, predicting that its operating income could turn positive by as early as 2026 as long as it overcomes the many challenges faced by the TRA, including its accumulation of NT$170 billion in short-term debt.

It will likely not run a net profit, however, until its new land development projects start generating income, by probably no sooner than 2027, Du said.

Though the TRC operated as a company in 2024, its on-time performance fell to 93.5 percent, well short of its 97 percent target and down from 95.98 percent in 2023 and 94.98 percent in 2022.

Du attributed the poorer performance to damage to the rail network caused by natural catastrophes, with earthquakes and aftershocks resulting in more than 900 delays of TRC trains. Heavy rains and typhoons also contributed to the rail company's on-time woes.

Du envisioned an on-time performance of 99 percent by 2033.

The two-decade plan to corporatize the TRA, which was founded in 1948, did not gain traction until 2018 and 2021, when two fatal derailments occurred, highlighting the need for an across-the-board overhaul of the agency to ensure safer and more efficient rail travel.

The TRC has established a unit dedicated to rail safety and devised a five-year safety-enhancement plan to strengthen risk assessments and improve and implement performance evaluations, Du said.

It is also strengthening its own safety management system (SMS) to bolster the control and prevention of risk hazards, especially in light of two accidents in November and another two on Dec. 19 that resulted from poor driving and dispatching, Du said.

Following those incidents, related personnel were recalled to undergo intensive training on cars newly equipped with automatic train protection devices in training centers across Taiwan, according to Du.