The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) is scheduled to start work on the electrification of the railway line between Hualien and Taitung next month.
The electrification of the Hualien-Taitung railway service was one of the 12 “I-Taiwan” projects (愛台十二項建設) promised by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) during his presidential electoral campaign.
The work is scheduled to be completed by 2013.
TRAVEL TIME
Chou Yung-hui (周永暉), deputy director general of the Railway Reconstruction Bureau, said yesterday that it takes about two hours and 40 minutes to go from Hualien to Taitung. Once the electrification work is complete, travel time will be reduced by about 30 minutes.
“In the future, passengers will be able to go straight from Taipei to Taitung without having to change trains in Hualien,” Chou said. “The travel time can potentially be shortened to four hours. The operational speed will be increased from 110kph to 130kph.”
Currently, passengers going from Taipei to Taitung need to switch to diesel-powered trains in Hualien, with the exception of those travelling by diesel-powered Tzuchiang express trains.
The Hualien-Taitung route uses a single-track system and Chou said the project would also involve the installation of a double-track system on some sections, including those inside tunnels and on bridges.
STRETCH
The project covers a 155km stretch of railway. When it is finished, about 42km of this will be double-tracked.
Chou said the bureau had submitted a plan to make the entire route double-track, which had yet to be approved by the Executive Yuan.
The bureau originally planned to spend seven years on the project, but it would now try to accomplish the task within four years.
The cost is estimated to top NT$15.5 billion (US$480,000) and the bureau has also budgeted an additional NT$6 billion to renovate stations on the route.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS