allows yards and freight facilities to move from center city (Hwashan, Songshan) to suburbs (Shulin, Qidu), with cheaper land and better highway access. Rapid transit integration Taipei metro shows substantial integration with the network, reflecting Taipei's close municipal central government relationship. Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation's (TRTC) was converted from Tamsui railway line, while and roughly follow the TRA mainline and the former Xindian railway line. TRA accepts metro farecards within metropolitan Taipei. Four metro lines converge at Taipei Main Station, making subways the local distribution system of TRA. New intercity bus terminals were constructed near Taipei Main Station in 2009. Like NJ Transit’s Newark and LIRR’s Jamaica stations, Banqiao and Nankang interchanges afford TRA penetration into western and eastern neighbourhoods without long hackney rides or backtracking. Commuter rail and HSR TRA’s maximum commercial speed is 130 km/h (81 mph) whereas HSR operates up to 300 km/h (187 mph). Although TRA’s long-distance services potentially competes with HSR, Taiwan’s HSR is focused on origin-destination markets over 100 miles like Taipei-Taichung (HSR – 50 minutes; TRA – 110 minutes), whereas TRA serves shorter-haul trips like Taipei-Hsinchu (35 versus 60 minutes). HSR serves Taipei, Banqiao, and Nangang TRA interchanges via shared corridors. Except for Taipei, HSR stations are located out-of-town, minimizing environmental impacts and property acquisition, maximizing economic development potential, and allowing low curvature alignments. Commuter rail connects HSR with established provincial downtowns, solving “last mile” problems. In Hsinchu, HSR and TRA stations are three miles apart. Parts of TRA's Neiwan line were electrified and rebuilt as a modern commuter railroad, costing US$280 million to connect Hsinchu's historic downtown with the HSR. Connections generate benefits for both modes and catalyze development near HSR stations, much as Interstate interchanges attracted economic activity. This is a transit-oriented version of Beltway success stories played out across 1980s America. Infrastructure and scheduling TRA's infrastructure might be described as making up for lower track miles with sidings. TRA operated single-track sections on busy mainlines until 1998. Double-track sections can accommodate trains at different speeds; passing movements don't interference with opposing traffic, allowing scheduled throughputs of ~15 trains per hour per direction. Scheduling practices assume staff can respond to unforeseen delays and out-of-sequence trains by dynamically utilizing available infrastructure. TRA has recently installed advanced signalling on the northernmost portion of the West Coast line around Taipei, and has performed extensive capacity analysis to maximize train throughputs. Passing tracks at local