Taiwan High Speed Rail Tickets: How to Buy, Fares, THSR Pass

Last verified 25 Oct 2026

Ticket types and fares at a glance

Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) has 12 stations, from Nangang in the north to Zuoying in the south. Three seat types matter to visitors:

Full adult fares from THSR’s fare page, in NT$. Children who are at least 115 cm tall and under 12 pay half.

THSR publishes these fares as a 12-station grid. Its timetable search says fares shown there can include discounts, so the booking system has the final price.

Where to buy

Online booking site. Open the THSR online booking page. It sells reserved seats from 29 days ahead until 1 hour before departure, up to 10 tickets per booking. When the booking date falls on a Friday or Saturday, the window extends to the following Sunday.

T Express app. Same reserved-seat sales, with a mobile ticket you scan at the gate. The cut-off is 5 minutes before departure. The app needs iOS 14 or later, or Android 7 or later. Non-reserved tickets can also be bought in the app, but only on the day, and the app must be activated at a THSR station.

Station ticket window. Open to cash, credit and debit cards. Reserved seats can be bought up to 3 minutes before departure. This is the place for any change that online tools do not handle.

Ticket vending machines. Sell reserved, non-reserved and business tickets and accept cash, cards and mobile wallets. THSR says the machines need a PIN for card payments, so set one up with your bank before you travel. The machines take American Express only if it was issued by American Express International Taiwan, CTBC Bank or SinoPac Bank; other American Express holders should use the window.

Partner convenience stores. 7-ELEVEN, FamilyMart, Hi-Life and OK Mart sell and print THSR tickets. Payment is in cash with a NT$10 handling fee per ticket. You can book until 30 minutes before departure. You must pay within 10 minutes of generating the slip.

Step by step: booking a reserved seat online

1. Open the online booking page or the T Express app and choose the English interface.
2. Pick the origin, destination, date and train. Check the fare shown.
3. Choose the number and type of tickets.
4. Enter your details. For foreign visitors, THSR asks for a passport number in place of an ID number when you collect the ticket.
5. Pay by the deadline. For a trip more than three days away, pay within three days of booking. Closer trips have shorter deadlines, and a booking made within an hour of departure must be paid at once.
6. Collect the ticket: in the T Express app, at a station window or ticket machine, or at a partner convenience store. Unpaid bookings are cancelled automatically.

If you booked on the website, bring the reservation number and the passport number you used.

Paying and cancelling

Online payment takes Visa, Mastercard, JCB and American Express. THSR notes the American Express restriction: online it accepts only cards issued by American Express International Taiwan and CTBC Bank. Apple Pay and Google Pay work in the T Express app.

Cancelling a paid ticket in the app or on the website costs NT$20 per ticket. Do it at least 30 minutes before departure. A refund takes 7 to 15 working days to reach a credit card. Refunds are not accepted after payment for departures within 30 minutes of a same-day booking in the app.

THSR Pass for foreign visitors

THSR sells passes only to short-term foreign visitors. Holders of a Taiwan passport or a resident certificate are not eligible.

Both passes give unlimited rides in standard class, reserved or non-reserved, and not in business class. You buy on the THSR Pass site or through a travel agency, then redeem dates and reserve seats online or at a station window, and collect the physical pass at a ticket counter with your passport.

A rough comparison: a standard Taipei–Taichung round trip is 2 × NT$700 = NT$1,400 at full fare, below the NT$2,200 pass. A Taipei–Zuoying round trip is 2 × NT$1,490 = NT$2,980. Add up your own legs from the fare grid before buying.

Boarding and gates

Gates accept the magnetic ticket, the mobile ticket QR code, a convenience-store ticket and periodic or multi-ride tickets. THSR also lists EasyCard and iPASS co-branded credit cards. THSR’s EasyCard page says these work for adults and charge the non-reserved fare. It does not list a plain EasyCard for the gates, so for a normal EasyCard assume you need a THSR ticket.

The mobile ticket works only on the phone that collected it, and THSR treats a dead or lost phone as no valid ticket. Keep the battery up, or collect a paper ticket.

Common mistakes

• Booking on the website and forgetting to collect. A paid reservation still has to be collected. Missing the train because you collected late gets no refund.
• Buying a non-reserved ticket for a peak weekend. Seats are first come, first served and can fill. Reserve ahead for holidays.
• Planning a card payment at a machine without a PIN. Set the PIN with your bank first.
• Counting on the pass for business class. Passes are standard class only.
• Not planning the leg before the train. If you land at Taoyuan Airport first, see Taoyuan Airport to Taipei for the ways into the city.

Booking windows, cut-off times and fares change, and holiday periods can bring extra trains and special rules. Rules change; check the official THSR site before you buy.

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