Shake, rattle and roll

Abstract

Taiwan's new high-speed rail line is one of the world's largest construction projects. It will link the capital Taipei in the north with the port of Kaohsiung in the south, and will have five major stops in between. Design and construction of the project is complicated by seismic activity, high rainfall and poor ground conditions. The island is a collision point for three crustal plates off the coast of mainland China. The meeting of the Pacific, Eurasian and Philippine tectonic plates has formed a mountain range almost 4000m high, which occupies 85% of the land mass along the island's spine.