They were originally built by Tokyu Car Corporation of Japan in 1966, in response to an order by the Taiwan Railways Administration, because of the need to renew the rolling stock on the by then 10-year-old Flying Formosan Express service.

The DR2700 started public service on October 31, 1966, under the name of The Glory of China Express, and with its light body and a blazing 69 mph design speed, it still holds the pre-electrification record for the fastest time for traversing Taiwan's Western Line in its entirety, in a time of just four hours and 40 minutes, beating the previous Flying Formosan record by 20 minutes.

The DR2700 series bodywork was based on the Budd Rail Diesel Car (RDC), since Tokyu Car Corporation at that time had a license from the Budd Company to incorporate its stainless steel train body and bogie technology from the latter, which it also did for the TRA DR2800 series built in the early-1980s.

that this train was introduced to celebrate the 80th birthday of Chiang Kai-shek, a Chinese military leader, and eventually the president of the Republic of China.

The small fleet of six DR2750 trailers was withdrawn in 1997, following the introduction of the EMU500, in order to reduce the strain on the aged motor coaches.