Taiwan's Bureau of High Speed Rail (BOHSR) started to tender THSR as a build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme in October 1996.

[13] Following an offer from the Japanese government to provide cheap loans to THSRC if it switches to Shinkansen technology,[14] in spite of an earlier agreement with Eurotrain, THSRC decided to re-tender the core systems technology contract June 1999.

[23] Running tests started on the THSR high speed line on January 27, 2005, after four months of delays, on the Tainan–Kaohsiung section.

[2] However, more powerful motors and eddy current brakes on trailers provide for a higher top speed.

Also for 300 km/h (186 mph) operation, a number of features were derived from the 500 Series Shinkansen, such as the bogies, and the T-shaped and aerodynamically optimised pantographs for reduced noise emission[9] atop cars 4 and 9.

[4] The D-ATC (Digital Automatic Train Control) system was in turn derived from that of the 800 Series Shinkansen.

[4] The trains were built with shock absorbing elements for protection in low-speed collisions[6] and were equipped with a parking brake.

[4] The shorter nose, and the lack of a sliding window and an extra door for the driver[4] provided for more space for passengers.

[9] The train has no restaurant or bar,[4] but was equipped with vending machines, while Business Car passengers also get seat service.

[9] The per capita energy consumption of a fully loaded 700T train is 16% of private cars and half of buses, carbon dioxide emissions are 11% and a fourth, respectively.

[30] The software was released on the PlayStation 3 system in Asia (Hong Kong, Taiwan, & Singapore)[30] on July 12, 2007,[31] and in Japan on November 1, 2007.