Simon Babes, Movement Strategies’ Managing Director joined a UK Rail Delegation, led by Lord Faulkner, the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Taiwan, to Taipei on 29 and 30 January 2018. The 2 day Trade Mission included meetings with the Minister of Transport and Communications (MOTC), Department of Rapid Transit Systems of Taipei City, Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation, other City Metro authorities, Taiwan Railway Administration and the Bureau of High Speed Rail.
The Trade Mission is an opportunity to engage with the rail sector authorities in Taiwan, who have been allocated approximately US$16bn to upgrade and extend the existing rail network, whilst also delivering new alignments. The 38 rail projects funded by this 8-year funding pledge will consume around 95% of the total transport infrastructure budget, confirming the Central Government’s intentions to improve and promote more sustainable transport options in Taipei and in other areas of the Island nation with a population approaching 24 million.
Simon Babes commented “The Trade Mission, organised by UK’s Railway Industry Association (RIA), is a great opportunity to engage with the Clients in a country which has traditionally looked to the UK for its rail expertise. Lord Faulkner leading the mission, and good support from the British Office in Taipei, open doors and it’s then up to the UK businesses to make the most of these opportunities. Movement Strategies is in an excellent position to provide advice to the Taiwanese Clients, for strategic planning, as well as the more detailed studies to increase the capacity of key transport interchanges. The week’s agenda is full on, but it’s well worth this effort and we hope to secure new opportunities as a result. Generating opportunities to work on SE Asia projects is also a great opportunity for our staff, where project delivery timescales are often a lot shorter than they are in the UK”.
As part of the UK/Taiwan dialogue, Taiwan TV has recently visited Movement Strategies in London to understand more about the work we do. We were featured in a programme recently aired, which can now be viewed on to YouTube (from 23 mins 09 seconds).