Taipei, Oct. 29 (CNA) The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) will seek to diversify into other businesses after corporatization next year to stem an escalating NT$4.4 billion (US$135 million) debt crisis, Director-General Tu Wei (杜微) said in a recent report.

In a report dated Oct. 6, Tu said that after a fact-finding trip to Japanese railroad companies in July, Taiwan should learn from operators such as Kintetsu Group Holdings Co., Ltd. and Seibu Holdings Inc. to diversify service types to generate “substantial profits.”

Taking Kintetsu as an example, Tu noted that the company operates tour buses, car rentals, travel agencies, and lodging services in addition to its railway operations– to create “a well-rounded structure for better mutual support.”

In light of this, the TRA should expand its current scale of affiliated businesses, from mostly meal box catering to train carriage and station cleaning, Tu added.

If the TRA could establish a subsidiary providing such services, it could pay itself NT$1.1 billion per year, according to Tu, who did not clarify how much profit this would generate.

Similar strategies could apply to train maintenance and more, to reduce human resource outsourcing and “create competitiveness,” Tu said.

The TRA should also improve overseas marketing to attract foreign passengers, Tu said, without detailing how such improvements would be made.

The TRA is set to bear increased financial burdens from pay raises, welfare funds and asset depreciation after it is officially turned into a company in January, according to the 2024 budget it submitted to the Legislature last month.

According to the budget, the TRA’s debts are set to climb to NT$7.492 billion, or an increase of over 60 percent from the current fiscal year.

The looming crisis has apparently worried TRA employees, as Transportation Minister Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) confirmed last month to lawmakers that an estimated 2,000-3,000 individuals, or 15 percent of its current workforce, may choose to leave to receive a maximum of 7 months’ worth of their monthly salary.

Last year, the TRA distributed a universal NT$2,000 allowance to all employees in an attempt to keep them, which was criticized as unrealistic.

The TRA has so far accumulated NT$4.4 billion worth of debt, and there have been intensifying public calls for its privatization in recent years particularly after two large train accidents in 2018 and 2021, when nearly 70 passengers were killed.