Commemorative train ticket sets that mark Valentine’s Day with a play on words sold out in just over an hour after going on sale at a Taiwan Railways Administration station yesterday.
The tickets, dated Feb. 14, 2014, were for a one-way trip from Dalin (大林, pronounced similarly to “darling” in English) station in Chiayi County to Gueilai (歸來, literally: “come back”) station in Pingtung County, making the “Darling, come back” tickets a popular item for couples and collectors.
The tickets went on sale at 9am at Pingtung Station, but all 3,500 sets were sold out by 10:14am.
Photo: Lin Yi-chang, Taipei Times
Another 200 sets on sale at Dalin Station were snatched up in less than 20 minutes.
First in line at Dalin Station was a man surnamed Cheng (鄭) from nearby Chiayi City, who lined up at 5:08am.
Cheng said the ticket was in remembrance of his girlfriend.
The two never had the chance to spend Valentine’s Day together before she died of illness in November last year, he said.
“Hopefully this belated present can make up for my regrets,” Cheng added.
Over the years, the railway agency has launched a number of commemorative ticket packages that play on the names of specific stations.
One of the most popular was a commemorative ticket set featuring Yongkang (永康) and Baoan (保安) stations in Greater Tainan.
If read clockwise, the characters say yongbao ankang (forever in peace and health).
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
RSS