The EMU1200 series is a series of

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numbe ...

passenger trains operated by

Taiwan Railways Administration Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) is a railway operator in Taiwan. It is an agency of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, responsible for managing, maintaining, and running conventional passenger and freight railway services ...

(TRA). The train was originally known as the EMU200 series until all of its cars were refurbished between 2002 and 2004. It is one of the trains that are used for the ''

Tze-Chiang Limited Express The Tze-Chiang Express, also spelled "Tzu-chiang" or "Ziqiang" () is a type of express train service operated by the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) in Taiwan. Of the five service classes operated by the TRA, the Tze-Chiang trains is the faste ...

''.

History

Taiwan Railway Administration EMU 206 Banqiao 1989

In 1978, the TRA introduced the ''Tze-Chiang'' class of trains with the

EMU100 series The Taiwan Railway EMU100 series was a set of rail cars fabricated by British Rail Engineering Limited and the General Electric Company in 1976 that has operated in Taiwan. The alternating current electric multiple unit (EMU) fleet entered full ...

running on newly- electrified tracks between

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

and

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Taiw ...

. This service proved to be extremely popular, prompting the TRA to purchase more trains to meet demand. In 1984, the TRA awarded Union Carriage & Wagon (UC&W) to build 33 railcars with three cars in each trainset, to be named as the EMU200 series. The trains were built between 1986 and 1987; notably, parts for the last three trainsets (numbered 209-211) were manufactured by UC&W and assembled in Taiwan by

Tang Eng Iron Works Tang Eng Iron Works () is a steelmaking company in Taiwan. Its headquarters is in Siaogang District of Kaohsiung. History The company was established by in May 1940. It was once the largest steel company in the Japanese-ruled Taiwan. It transfo ...

. All cars entered service on 28 July 1987. With the introduction of the

E1000 series The E1000, commonly known as the PP ''Tze-chiang'', is a series of electric push-pull trains used by the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA), operated as part of the ''Tze-chiang'' limited express service. The locomotives were built by Union C ...

in 1996, the TRA saw the need to update the aging EMU200 series, which was plagued with reliability issues. The contract was given to

Taiwan Rolling Stock Company Taiwan Rolling Stock Company (TRSC) is a rail vehicle company. TRSC is located in Hukou, Hsinchu County, near Xinfeng railway station. It was previously a rolling stock production division of Tang Eng Iron Works before 2002. After privatization ...

(TRSC) and was done between 2002 and 2004. Then, the trains were given a new designation as the EMU1200 series. Despite the refurbishment, the train still proved to be unreliable. Plans to retire the train were disclosed in 2015. As of 2016, the train only runs twice a day by making a round trip between

Changhua Changhua (Hokkien POJ: ''Chiong-hòa'' or ''Chiang-hòa''), officially known as Changhua City, is a county-administered city and the county seat of Changhua County in Taiwan Province of the Republic of China. For many centuries the site was h ...

and

Chaozhou Chaozhou (), alternatively Chiuchow, Chaochow or Teochew, is a city in the eastern Guangdong province of China. It borders Shantou to the south, Jieyang to the southwest, Meizhou to the northwest, the province of Fujian to the east, and the Sou ...

, a section that is mostly flat to not cause excessive stress on the train. The train was retired on 28 March 2022, with its final journey departing from Fangliao to Changhua.

Features

The EMU200 series ran in a three-car formation, with the motor cars on the two ends and a pantograph on the middle car.

General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250 ...

supplied the traction system. The EMU200 series' livery followed the same yellow and orange pattern on the EMU100 series. When the train was refurbished into the EMU1200 series, TRSC altered the trains to run in a nine-car formation along with automatic doors. The livery was also changed to a white and red pattern, giving it the nickname "red zebra".

References

External links

* * {{Taiwanloco Electric multiple units of Taiwan 1987 establishments in Taiwan 2022 disestablishments in Taiwan 25 kV AC multiple units