The Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) yesterday said it expected to resume full operations on the South Link Line (南迴鐵路) from tomorrow, adding it would spend NT$240 million (US$7.6 million) to build a new bridge over the Taimali River (太麻里溪) in Taitung County.
The nation’s largest railway service had to partially suspend operations on the main route connecting the southern and eastern regions after torrential rain brought by Typhoon Fanapi earlier this month caused water levels in the Taimali River to rise, washing away 100m of railway embankment.
At present, passengers heading to Kaohsiung from Hualien must get off at the TRA’s Taitung Station and take a connecting bus to Dawu (大武) in Taitung County, where they can board a train again to Kaohsiung.
TRA Director General Frank Fan (范植谷) said the original plan was to make the bridge over the river accessible by Saturday. The maintenance crew in Taitung, however, worked extra hours to repair the embankment, with the Taitung-Dawu section now expected to be accessible three days earlier, he said.
Meanwhile, the TRA plans to build a new bridge over the river, a project that is expected to be completed at the end of next year, Fan said.
“We must completely change the design of the bridge,” Fan said, adding that the South Link was located in mountainous areas, making it vulnerable to natural disasters.
To comply with Water Resources Agency plans to dredge the Taimali, Fan said the TRA would also increase the length of the bridge from 250m to 520m. Rather than a single railway track system, a double-track system would be installed on the bridge, he said.
The TRA said repair work on the South Link after it was damaged by Typhoon Morakot last year cost about NT$70 million. The damage caused by Fanapi is expected to exceed NT$48 million, it said.
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
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
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
RSS