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 on 1097 km of track in Taiwan. Due to Taiwan's heavily urbanised landscape and high population density, railways have played an important part in domestic transportation since the late 19th century. Passenger traffic in 2018 was 231,267,955. The agency's headquarters are in Zhongzheng District, Taipei. Overview Railway services, between Keelung and Hsinchu, began in 1891 under China's Qing dynasty, because the railway was completely rebuilt and substantially expanded under the operated by Formosa's Japanese colonial government (1895–1945), the network's Japanese influence and heritage persists. Similarities between the TRA and the Japan Railways (JR) companies can be found in signal aspects, signage, track layout, fare controls, station architecture, and operating procedures. As Japan's southern base during World War II, Taiwan's railways suffered significant damage by Allied air raids. The Taiwan Railways Administration was established on 5 March 1948 to reconstruct and operate railway infrastructure, with as its first Director-General. The TRA is a government organisation that falls under Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation and Communication (MOTC) and employs around 13,500 people (4,700 in transportation and 7,700 in maintenance titles) and directly operates some 682 route miles of 3’6” (1,067 mm) gauge railways. Three mainlines form a complete circle around the island. TRA's West Coast line and Badu-Hualien section feature mostly double-track, electrification, modern colour light and cab signalling, overrun protection, and centralized traffic control (CTC). South-link line, east coast Taitung (converted from 762 mm gauge), and three “tourist” branches are non-electrified single-track with passing sidings. Since the early 1980s, conventional railway capital improvements are nationally funded and managed by the MOTC's Railway Reconstruction Bureau, then turned over to TRA for operations. Taiwan's challenging terrain meant all lines feature extensive tunneling and long bridges. Double-tracking frequently requires construction of parallel single-track railroads or bypass tunnels on new alignments. The US$14.5 billion standard gauge high-speed rail (HSR) line was built and operated by a separate public-private partnership under a 35-year concession, but TRA provides feeder services to HSR terminals. Although TRA operates all commuter rail, other quasi-private organizations operate subways in Taipei and Kaohsiung. Local and intercity passenger services (5am – 1am, very few overnight trains) operate at 95.3% on-time performance. 2008 annual passenger ridership was 179 million (incurring 5.45 billion