TRAVEL LOG

High-speed line zooms in Taiwan

TAIWAN has started its first high-speed rail line running the 215-mile length of the island’s west coast to connect the capital of Taipei with the country’s second-largest city, Kaohsiung, and six cities in between.

In March, the government also plans to start “tilting trains,” which quickly maneuver sharp curves by tilting at an angle of up to 5 degrees, on the east coast from Taipei to Hualien, cutting one-way travel time from three to two hours.

The high-speed trains, which started Jan. 5 and were imported from Japan, run up to 186 mph and whiz down the west coast in 90 minutes, shaving three hours off a typical 4 1/2 -hour trip by regular rail. A one-way, economy-class ticket from the suburbs of Taipei to the system’s southernmost station at Kaohsiung will cost about $45, 30% less than economy-class flights. The train affords day trips from Taipei to Tainan, one of Taiwan’s oldest cities. Info: www.thsrc.com.tw/en/index.htm (for west coast trains) and www.railway.gov.tw/e_index.htm (for east coast trains).

-- Julia Ross

Twice as taxing

to leave Britain

BRITAIN has doubled a tax that is tacked onto air tickets for outbound flights.

The tax, called an air passenger duty, is now about $79 per ticket for economy class and $158 for business and first class on transatlantic flights.

The government announced the increase Dec. 7, effective for flights departing Feb. 1 and later from Britain, and applied it retroactively to tickets bought both before and after Dec. 7.

Airlines have responded differently. British Airways on Dec. 13 started adding the tax increase to new tickets but decided not to charge passengers who had bought tickets before then. Virgin Atlantic was requiring fliers to pay the increase regardless of when tickets were bought.

-- Jane Engle

Plane air make you ill? Study planned

AIRLINE passengers often blame the air inside plane cabins for making them sick. Now researchers plan to examine the link between cabin air and symptoms experienced by passengers and crews.

The study, funded by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, is scheduled to start this month.

In the first phase of the two-year study, passengers and crews on 160 flights will be asked to describe their perception of air quality and whether they have any health complaints, said Jeff Myers, project manager for Battelle, the Columbus, Ohio-based company that is conducting the study.

“We expect LAX to be one of the airports involved,” Myers said. Five or 10 major airlines will participate in the study.

Myers and his team will try to evaluate whether complaints and symptoms associated with flying can be linked to different time zones, types of planes or other factors.

-- Kathleen Doheny

Briefly

A new airline last week began selling tickets for nonstop flights to 14 cities out of LA/Ontario International Airport. From April 2 through May 14, Houston-based ExpressJet Airlines Inc. will phase in service to Albuquerque; Austin, El Paso and San Antonio, Texas.; Boise, Idaho; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Fresno and Monterey, Calif.; Kansas City, Mo.; Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Okla; Omaha; Spokane, Wash.; and Tucson. (888) 958-9538; www.xjet.com.

June Mountain, an Eastern Sierra ski resort near Mammoth Mountain, has closed for the season because of light snowfall. Its season passes are being honored at Mammoth.

-- Jane Engle