Disaster Prevention

Factors affecting the safety of THSR trains can be divided into three categories, including natural factors (such as earthquakes, typhoons, heavy rainfall, landslide, rock fall, etc.), human factors (such as destruction of equipment, arson, explosives, violent attacks, hijacking, etc.), and equipment abnormality (such as signal system failure, turnout failure, train bogie failure, low hanging tram lines, etc.). In accordance with the overall prevention and contingency plan for the three categories of disasters, the Company puts the safety of passengers and personnel first, formulates emergency procedures to respond to actual disasters, and takes various measures to improve and resume operations through cooperation between internal and external units.

THSRC has adopted relevant laws and regulations on disaster prevention and fire safety as the basis for the formulation of internal management mechanism, and each station or depot implements various disaster prevention tasks as per the management mechanism. The standard operating procedures for disaster response are also independently inspected for safety by international experts in the final inspection phase to ensure that the procedures can cope with various potential disasters that affect transportation safety. All operating procedures are regularly inspected and revised in accordance with regulations, and all inspection operations are completed according to the frequency of inspection during the epidemic period in compliance with epidemic prevention regulations to ensure the reliability of equipment. The relevant disaster or emergency response operation rules and procedures of each unit are reviewed at least once every three years, and during 2025, our effectiveness continued to be reviewed quarterly through legal compliance operations, with continuous improvements made following each emergency response operation review.

THSR's trains are equipped with Disaster Warning System (DWS), if earthquakes, rock falls, landslide, road vehicle intrusion and other safety-related danger signals are detected, the automatic train control system will be triggered to send a stop command to stop the train. Intrusion Sensor include 3 types of sensors, including rock fall, landslide and road vehicle intrusion, which are installed on road sections with higher risk according to the characteristics, such as a total of 28 road vehicle Intrusion Sensor were set up above the tunnel portal or on the viaduct with high risk of vehicle intrusion.

Relevant information on the actual natural disaster events affecting the THSRC operation in 2025 is as follows:

Along with planning comprehensive preventive and response measures based on three categories of risks including natural factors, human factors, and equipment abnormalities, THSRC continues to prepare for disaster prevention and damage mitigation by drawing on lessons learned from domestic and international railway incidents to ensure and enhance operational safety. Each year, the Company formulates a drill and training plan to conduct regular and scheduled and unannounced drills for hypothetical scenarios, ensuring that personnel at all levels are familiar with the response procedures for emergencies. In 2025, the Company referenced the lessons learned in domestic and international railway incidents, the "Overall Disaster Prevention and Response Plan for Taiwan High Speed Rail Traffic Accidents" approved by the Central Disaster Prevention and Response Council of the Executive Yuan, statutory regulations, requirements of government entities, and internal reviews of abnormalities for the development of our annual disaster prevention and rescue drill (training) plan. The Company worked with external support units including the police, fire departments, medical services, environmental protection bureaus, and the Railway Bureau, to plan and implement disaster prevention training programs and rescue drills. These efforts aim to familiarize all parties with joint command and response mechanisms. THSRC continues to expand the scale of safety training and disaster prevention and rescue drill to enhance the onsite rescue and emergency response capabilities of every unit. In 2025, THSRC conducted a total of 100 disaster prevention and rescue drills (training) at various stations, depots, and routes, all of which were completed as scheduled, achieving a completion rate of 100%.

In order to respond to potential major disasters and implement consolation and immediate care for injured passengers and their families, THSRC has established the "Care and Consolation Team" across the North, Central, and South parts of Taiwan to provide relevant support and accompaniment, including care and consolation telephone lines, family contact, medical assistance, legal consultation, funeral services, and other consultation for various needs. The team members also regularly participate in THSRC's annual disaster prevention and relief drills (training), as well as irregular self-organized drills, reviewing and optimizing their mobilization effectiveness through actual drills.

Safety Training Categories in 2025

Note: Outsourcing units include the Chemicals Administration of the Ministry of Environment and its environmental incident specialist teams, as well as fire protection, police, health, environmental protection, and medical response centers.

Large-scale Joint Drills

Each year, THSRC conducts a variety of drills to simulate response measures following different disasters, aiming to mitigate the impact of incidents and refine our overall disaster prevention and rescue response capabilities. Following approximately three months of discussion and preparation, the Company conducted the "Evacuation of Train in the Yunlin Section during an Earthquake" on the night of June 27, 2025. This drill simulated an earthquake with a Richter scale of 6.9 occurring near the Dajian Mountain Fault in the Zhushan area of Nantou. The simulation triggered a Level 3 alarm on the primary seismometers of the DWS installed by THSRC, resulting in severe shaking of the train and injuries of multiple passengers. THSRC established an Emergency Operations Center (EOC). After assessing the situation, the EOC issued instructions for the evacuation of passengers onto the tracks. The train crew was authorized to guide passengers through emergency exits to perform the evacuation. External support units and the Station Emergency Response Team subsequently arrived at the scene to assist with the passenger evacuation. In addition to mobilizing relevant employees and security personnel, this drill involved approximately 190 participants through the joint mobilization of the Yunlin County Fire Department, Police Bureau, and Health Bureau, as well as the Railway Police Bureau and the Railway Bureau.

The THSRC Operation Control Center (OCC) serves as the command hub for overall operations. It is organized into seven groups based on functions, operating in three shifts over 24 hours to maintain a round-the-clock command of train operations across the entire line and nighttime maintenance status. The OCC integrates information from stations, trains, maintenance bases, and facilities along the entire line. It is responsible for route control, signaling and safety interlocking, power control, communications, and data transmission, as well as real-time monitoring of alarm systems. By maintaining close contact with station operations, train operations, maintenance units, and emergency external support units, the OCC is able to rapidly mobilize and handle abnormalities when incidents occur to ensure safety in high-speed rail operations.

To ensure the high-speed and secure operation of each train, the system design incorporates safety distance maintenance and fail-safe concepts. Using the Automatic Train Control (ATC) system as its core, it performs three primary functions: