First shinkansen shipped to Taiwan

KOBE (AP) Crews loaded a Japanese-built bullet train on a ship Tuesday for delivery to Taiwan for its high-speed rail system scheduled to begin running late next year.

The lead unit of a new bullet train is loaded onto a freighter at Kobe port as part of the first shinkansen shipment to Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

The train is the first of 30 to be delivered by a Japanese consortium led by Mitsui & Co., which won a contract to provide 430 billion New Taiwan dollars ($12.7 billion) in hardware for the rail system.

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Drivers of the Japanese bullet trains will be French or German, but they will only be allowed to speak English to Taiwanese traffic controllers who oversee tracks designed by British and French engineers.

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