TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) announced a partial shutdown of many of its lines, going into effect this afternoon (Sept. 30) as the periphery of Typhoon Mitag began to batter northern and northeastern Taiwan.

In anticipation of the typhoon, the TRA this morning announced that starting at 1:50 p.m., northbound trains departing from Hsinchu on its western line would halt operations, while southbound trains on its western line would stop running at 2 p.m. As for its eastern line, trains departing from Taipei bound for Hualien ceased operations at 1:10 p.m., and trains leaving Taipei bound for Taitung halted at 3:09 p.m.

Regarding High Speed Rail trains, the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation has announced that its operations will remain normal throughout Monday (Sept. 30). As Typhoon Mitag's projected path could still change, the company says it will continue to monitor the storm and collect relevant information in order to plan the operation mode for tomorrow, which it says will be announced before 8 p.m. tonight.

Far Eastern Air Transport has canceled all domestic flights taking off from Taipei Songshan Airport starting at 2 p.m. today. Mandarin Airlines has canceled all flights from Taipei to Taitung and all flights from Kaohsiung to Hualien.

At 1:15 p.m., the Taoyuan International Airport Corporation (TIAC) said that according to data provided by airlines, 144 passenger and eight cargo flights originally scheduled until 11 p.m. tonight have been canceled. The passenger flight cancelations include 88 inbound flights and 56 outbound flights, while the cargo cancelations include three outbound and five inbound flights.

The Guanyuan to Luoshao section of Taiwan's Provincial Highway 8 has been closed to traffic from the 116-kilometer mark to the 153-kilometer mark.