Taipei Main is a five-level underground city where the metro, conventional rail, high-speed rail and the airport line stack on top of each other — and the HSR puts Kaohsiung 96 minutes away.
Taiwan High Speed Rail runs the west coast at 300 km/h: Nangang–Taipei–Banqiao–Taoyuan–Hsinchu–Taichung–Chiayi–Tainan–Zuoying. The full ride takes under two hours, and the system has effectively compressed the island’s urban corridor into a single commuter belt. THSR still markets two-for-one tickets to foreign travelers — one of Asia’s best rail deals.
The map is still growing: in July 2026 the premier approved the US$10.9-billion, 60.6-km extension from Nangang to Yilan over the mountains — cutting the Taipei–Yilan run to about 13 minutes — and a 26.2-km southern extension will take the HSR to Pingtung by 2039.
Taipei Main is notoriously maze-like: HSR on B2, TRA conventional trains above it, the red and blue metro lines deeper, the Airport MRT a five-minute walk west through underground malls. Learn the logic once — “HSR south, TRA east, MRT below, airport west” — and the station stops being a riddle.
For travelers: HSR trains run from around 06:30 to midnight at up to six an hour in peaks; reserved cars are the default at holidays, when trains sell out days ahead. Banqiao station, one stop west, often has seats when Taipei Main does not — the insider’s overflow valve.
Base yourself within one metro stop of Taipei Main and the whole west coast becomes a day-trip menu: Taichung for lunch, Kaohsiung for dinner. Buy HSR seats 3–7 days out on the app (the foreigner two-for-one deal still runs), and on sold-out holidays remember Banqiao — same trains, fewer people.
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