Alishan Forest Railway on Wednesday forged a sister railway relationship with Slovakia’s Cierny Hron Forest Railway ahead of its 106th anniversary on Dec. 25.
Ales Bilek, head of the Slovakian railway, and Forestry Bureau Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at a ceremony in Chiayi County.
The MOU is the third signed between the two countries this year, Martin Podstavek, Representative of the Slovak Economic and Cultural Office, Taipei, said at the ceremony.
Photo: Tseng Nai-chiang, Taipei Times
To mark the agreement, Lin gave Slovakia a Franz Collection porcelain creation with a painting of the Alishan steam train on it.
The Cierny Hron Railway, which consists of 131.98km of 76cm narrow-gauge railway in the landlocked central European country, was built for logging operations, Lin said, adding that it began regular lumber transport in 1909.
Built in 1912, the Alishan Forest Railway is made up of 86km of 76.2cm narrow-gauge railway running up to the popular Alishan Forest Recreation Area, and was also used for logging, Lin said, adding that the two railways are now used for tourism.
The agreement makes the Slovakian railway Alishan railway’s ninth sister railway, and Slovakia the fifth country with which it has sister ties, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office head Huang Miao-hsiu (黃妙修) said.
From Jan. 1, a steam locomotive with vintage-style wooden carriages is to run from Chiayi Station to Beimen Station on the railway line once every two weeks in a bid to boost local tourism, Huang said.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS