Taiwan High Speed Rail
The route of the Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) is 345km long and includes 251km of bridges and viaduct, 47km of tunnel and 32km of earthworks. The railway became operational in October 2005 with a design speed of 350km/hr.

Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC) appointed the International Railway Engineering Group (IREG), led by Mott MacDonald, as Independent Checking Engineer/Independent Site Engineer for the Taiwan High Speed Rail project in 1999. The IREG consortium comprised Mott MacDonald, Electrowatt Engineering of Switzerland, DE-Consult of Germany and French consultant SYSTRA.

The new high speed rail link between Taiwan's capital and Kaohsiung is over 345km long with 300km of viaducts and tunnels and a design speed of 350km/h in order to achieve a journey time of 90 minutes. Ten new stations were built including terminals at Taipei and Kaohsiung and a major interchange at Taichung.

IREG is responsible for auditing and spot-checking all design and construction management activity related to the whole high speed railway system including permanent way, viaducts and tunnels, signalling, power supply, rolling stock, stations and depots.

The £10 billion project is financed partly by THSRC – a joint venture of major Taiwanese industrial and financial companies – plus local and overseas private investment and loan financing. It is considered one of the world's most challenging build-operate-transfer transport projects and is the first of its kind in Taiwan.

In 2004 Mott MacDonald and Moh & Associates were commissioned to provide an asset management strategy for the civil infrastructure of the Taiwan High Speed Rail. The inspection and maintenance plan provides engineering recommendations for inspection and maintenance cycle processes, procedures and people competencies, guidance on the inspection process itself, information on the assessment stage and recommendations and guidance for best value maintenance and methods of working.