Environmentalists yesterday said an underground railway project in Tainan might lead to soil liquefaction, calling on the city government to consider other options, including an elevated rail system.
The project includes plans to move 8.2km of track underground and shift an existing line eastward, with the proposal to involve land expropriation.
A series of protests have objected to the project.
The Ministry of the Interior’s Construction and Planning Agency did not reach a conclusion in a review of the project on June 14, while Deputy Minister of the Interior Hua Ching-chun (花敬群) announced that a special meeting is to be convened on Saturday to decide the project’s fate.
Environmentalists and Tainan residents called a news conference in Taipei yesterday, saying the proposed underground construction might increase the risk of soil liquefaction and building collapses.
Former Tainan County commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) said partition walls of the system would obstruct the east-to-west flow of water and raise groundwater levels.
“An impermeable rock layer is 25m beneath the city, so the underground railway system might create a reservoir and cause soil liquefaction,” Su said.
The collapse of the Weiguan Jinlong complex in Tainan in the Feb. 6 earthquake that killed 117 people was potentially due to soil liquefaction, and the city government should reassess risks associated with the rail proposal, especially when the project is to be in the city center, he said.
High groundwater levels increase the risk of soil liquefaction and the ministry’s review committee should consider other options, such as maintaining the current railway system or building an elevated system, Taiwan Environmental Protection Union secretary-general Chen Bing-heng (陳秉亨) said.
Trees Party policy director Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) said railway tracks could be seen in major cities in the world without interfering with surface traffic or the landscape.
“The underground project is limited to the city center, but railway tracks in other parts of the city are to remain unchanged. If the underground project was approved, the city landscape would be fragmented and transportation development in the city would be imbalanced,” Pand said.
The project would cost NT$29.36 billion (US$907.8 million), but that would be enough to build an elevated system that is three times longer than the proposed plan, Tainan resident Tai Yu-an (戴予安) said.
“Building underground railways is a flawed policy in terms of climate change response, because sea levels are estimated to rise. However, an elevated, longer railway system could connect different parts of the city,” Tainan Community University instructor Lin Yuan-li (林元笠) said.
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