The Taroko, a brand new tilting train manufactured in Japan, was introduced in Hualien yesterday.
The Taiwan Railway Administration has spent NT$2.7 billion (US$82.2 million) for purchasing 48 tilting TE-1000 Series railway cars and locomotives from Hitachi.
Hitachi delivered 10 locomotives and 14 cars on Dec. 17 and another 24 are expected to be delivered in October.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (
"I am so happy to tell everybody that with the Taroko, it will only take less than an hour to travel from Taipei to Ilan and less than two hours to travel from Taipei to Hualien," Su said at the inauguration ceremony held yesterday in front of Hualien Railway Station.
The railway administration plans to operate the Taroko trains between Taipei and Hualien.
"The first 24 cars are going through a 60-day test and this procedure will be completed on Feb. 15," said Tseng Neng-min (曾能民), an executive for the administration's Hualien section.
"The brand new train will be able to help transport passengers during the Lunar New Year, but we will not officially launch the service until sometime in March, with the exact date yet to be decided," he added.
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
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