Taipei Times
Date: Mar 23, 2016
By: Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
The Taiwan Railways Administration yesterday said that it is monitoring the
A Taiwan Railways Administration attendant holds up a Hello Kitty container on the maiden voyage of the Hello Kitty Taipei to Taitung service on Monday. Photo: CNA
number of headrest covers on the seats of its Hello Kitty-themed train after more than 300 of them were stolen by passengers during the train’s inaugural run between Taipei and Taitung on Monday.
The administration’s first Taroko Express train featuring the popular cartoon character became an immediate sensation earlier this week. However, the administration found that a large number of the headrest covers on the seats, which have Hello Kitty designs printed on them, went missing after the train’s inaugural journey was completed yesterday evening.
“The covers are available in two different patterns. To replace some of the missing ones, we had also prepared 120 backup covers just in case,” Catering Services Department general manager Liu Chien-liang (劉建良) said. “However, by the end of the day only 168 were left, 328 of them went missing.”
Asked why so many of the headrest covers were stolen, Liu said that perhaps the passengers wanted to take one of each design and keep them as souvenirs. The administration did not expect that most of the headrest covers would be taken away, he said. [FULL STORY]
