Minister Without Portfolio Wu Tze-cheng (吳澤成) on Tuesday announced that an old forestry railway on Taiping Mountain (太平山) in Yilan County is to recommence operations after 40 years.
The railway was built to transport people and wood from felled Taiwan cypress trees. The line runs 37km between Datong (大同) and Luodong (羅東) townships and began operations in 1924.
Typhoon Della severely damaged the railway in 1978 and it shut down in 1979 due to declining ridership.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
The railway has significant historical and tourism value, as it was part of the heyday of railway transportation and its decline, Wu said.
Attempts to relaunch the railway when he was Yilan commissioner failed, as there was no central government agency overseeing such efforts, he said.
As a minister without portfolio, Wu said he is in a unique position to facilitate collaborations between the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the Council of Agriculture and others.
A consensus was reached at a cross-departmental meeting that the railway has historical value, Wu said.
As Yilan County has over the years applied to restore sections, the decision was made to reopen the entire line to prevent a lack of overall planning leading to a waste of resources, he said.
The county government is to submit a proposal by late next year, Wu said.
Japan’s Enoshima Electric Railway is to be consulted over merging a railway and a light-rail system, as regulations prohibit shared railway-road paths, Wu said, adding that the county government would also propose legislative amendments or drafts to facilitate the plans.
The estimated cost of the project is NT$8 million (US$254,437), with the ministry contributing 86 percent and the county shouldering the rest, he said.
While the line should follow the existing track as much as possible, alternative routes could be considered should there be difficulties, the ministry said.
The project could be separated into two construction phases, with the first focused on the section between the Jhulin (竹林) area in Luodong and Tiansongbei (天送碑) Station in Sansing Township (三星), and the second phase from Tiansongbei to the Tuyang (土揚) area.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
RSS