The renovation of Hualien train station is scheduled to start in July, the Railway Reconstruction Bureau said yesterday, adding that when it is finished in 2014, it will be able to serve up to 50,000 passengers a day.
Construction costs are estimated at NT$700 million (US$23.7 million), the bureau said.
Bureau deputy director--general Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) said the current facility was designed to accommodate 18,000 passengers per day and it can no longer meet demand.
“Whenever there is a national holiday, passenger traffic reaches more than 20,000 per day,” Chou said.
After the renovation, the arrival and departure areas will be separated, Chou said. Arriving passengers will enter through a newly built second floor, while those leaving the terminal will exit from the ground floor at the front and the back of the station.
The project will also expand the passengers’ waiting area from 655m2 to 3,723m2, including both indoor and outdoor areas, he said.
Passengers will be able to browse at stores selling local agricultural products at the renovated facility before boarding, he added.
Tourists will be able to obtain travel information at the tourist center or rent bicycles at the station, he said, adding that they would be able to use the station’s Wi-Fi service and recharge their phones at designated areas.
The bureau said it plans to reopen the Railway Restaurant at the station, making it a new meeting place for local residents. The plaza in front of the station will be redesigned to reflect Hualien County’s trees and mountains.
The bureau added that it would renovate other stations along the modified route of the Hualien-Taitung railway line, which is scheduled to be electrified next year.
There are 29 train stations along this railway line. Based on the bureau’s plan, Yuemei (月美) station will be abandoned after the electrification project is completed. Fourteen other stations on the modified route will be completely renovated or given a “face-lift” to reflect the unique characteristics of the townships.
The stations in Hualien County’s Sincheng (新城), Yuli (玉里), Rueisuei (瑞穗) and Shoufong (壽豐), as well as Taitung County’s Guanshan (關山) and Chihshang (池上) will undergo full renovations.
For example, the train station in Guanshan will have an underground passageway leading to the National Museum of Prehistory. The exterior of the station will be designed to incorporate local images, such as palm trees and hermit crabs.
Visitors to Rueisui Station will be able to readily identify it with its most popular attraction, white water rafting at Siouguluan River (秀姑巒溪), when they see a design incorporating waves on the exterior. Yuli station, on the other hand, will have an outdoor bikers’ restaurant for cyclists to take a rest.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods