Minister Without Portfolio Wu Tze-cheng (吳澤成) on Tuesday announced that an old forestry railway on Taiping Mountain (太平山) in Yilan County is to recommence operations after 40 years.
The railway was built to transport people and wood from felled Taiwan cypress trees. The line runs 37km between Datong (大同) and Luodong (羅東) townships and began operations in 1924.
Typhoon Della severely damaged the railway in 1978 and it shut down in 1979 due to declining ridership.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
The railway has significant historical and tourism value, as it was part of the heyday of railway transportation and its decline, Wu said.
Attempts to relaunch the railway when he was Yilan commissioner failed, as there was no central government agency overseeing such efforts, he said.
As a minister without portfolio, Wu said he is in a unique position to facilitate collaborations between the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the Council of Agriculture and others.
A consensus was reached at a cross-departmental meeting that the railway has historical value, Wu said.
As Yilan County has over the years applied to restore sections, the decision was made to reopen the entire line to prevent a lack of overall planning leading to a waste of resources, he said.
The county government is to submit a proposal by late next year, Wu said.
Japan’s Enoshima Electric Railway is to be consulted over merging a railway and a light-rail system, as regulations prohibit shared railway-road paths, Wu said, adding that the county government would also propose legislative amendments or drafts to facilitate the plans.
The estimated cost of the project is NT$8 million (US$254,437), with the ministry contributing 86 percent and the county shouldering the rest, he said.
While the line should follow the existing track as much as possible, alternative routes could be considered should there be difficulties, the ministry said.
The project could be separated into two construction phases, with the first focused on the section between the Jhulin (竹林) area in Luodong and Tiansongbei (天送碑) Station in Sansing Township (三星), and the second phase from Tiansongbei to the Tuyang (土揚) area.
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