The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) yesterday introduced its first science fiction-themed train, featuring two “visitors from outer space desperate to travel on Taiwan’s tracks.”
TRA Director-General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) said the train, called “Evolution No. 1001,” was remodeled from the one previously used by the agency’s directors to inspect railway routes, or serve as a temporary command center when the nation experienced a major natural disaster or catastrophic traffic accident.
The train’s registration number is DSC100l and its nickname is “TRA One,” after the name of the well-known presidential carrier Air Force One.
Photo: CNA
He said the remodeled locomotive would initially operate on branch lines in Pingsi (平溪), Neiwan (內灣) and Jiji (集集).
Inspired by the train’s registration number, the two “aliens” have been named “Mr Ten” and “Miss One.”
They were created by designer Akibo Lee (李明道), who wanted to tell the story of aliens trying to find a place to settle down by going on a railway tour.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
“I am a father myself and I hope that more parents would take their children to travel with the aliens,” he said.
Mr Ten has a huge head containing all the maps to other galaxies, while Miss One has an antenna that is able to locate delicious food, Lee said. The couple have been traveling around the universe as backpackers, working to pay their dues.
They chose to travel to Earth this time and fell in love with Taiwan, Lee said.
The couple were particularly impressed by the railway system in Taiwan and decided to take a part-time job at the TRA, he said.
The alien couple can be seen on the exterior of the train as well as on restroom doors, no-smoking signs, wallpaper and seat headrest covers.
The railway operator will also sell memorabilia featuring images of the aliens, including lunch bags, lunch boxes and backpacks.
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