TC Kao, Ph.D.

Tsung-Chung (T.C.) Kao has a world-wide reputation as an expert in high-speed rail planning, engineering and operation.  He completed his B.S. in Civil Engineering at the National Taiwan University in 1971, his M.S. in Structural Engineering at Rutgers University in 1974, another M.S. in Geotechnical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley in 1975 and his Ph.D., also in Geotechnical Engineering, at the University of California, Berkeley in 1977. Following more than a decade of experience with several major engineering projects, he began working with the Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) Project in 1990 where he participated in the initial feasibility study.  Beginning in 1994, he served as the Advisor to the Provisional Office of the THSR Project.  After the Project was privatized in 1997, he served as the Vice President of Engineering for the THSR Corporation for 11 years.  In this role he participated in the design, construction and initial operation and commissioning of the THSR system.

Following his retirement from THSRC in 2008, Dr. Kao resumed his academic career, teaching at National Taiwan University, National Central University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The classes he developed and taught include: “High Speed Rail Engineering”, “High Speed Rail Planning”, “High Speed Rail Construction Management”, “High Speed Rail Operation & Maintenance” and “Integration Project Management”, with particular illustrations of his experience on the Taiwan High Speed Rail project.  Dr. Kao also serves as the adviser to World Bank on its High Speed Rail Projects in China and in 2014, Dr. Kao was invited by Hong Kong MTRC to serve as the Independent Expert for their Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link Project (XRL).  Dr. Kao has presented numerous invited lectures on HSR to railways, government offices and universities all over the world and is a licensed Professional Engineering in California and Taiwan.

Dr. Kao died in 2022.