After six years, “Yong Bao An Kang” (永保安康), one of the most popular memorial train ticket sets among collectors, is to be issued again, this time with the theme of “Love Forever,” Yongkang Railway Station master Hsieh Po-wen (謝博文) said.
Some people in Taiwan like to collect “good luck” train tickets, which bear auspicious-sounding combinations of station names, with tickets for the route between Tainan’s Yongkang (永康) and Baoan (保安) being one of the most well-known collectibles.
When read counterclockwise, the four Chinese characters printed on the tickets mean “peace and health forever.”
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Railways Administration
Each set contains two tickets for the route dated Feb. 13 and Feb. 14, as a combination of the dates — “20201314” — is a word play on “love you forever” (愛戀愛你一生一世) in Mandarin, Hsieh said.
Feb. 14 is also Valentine’s Day in the Western tradition, he said.
Designed as a greeting card, the commemorative set can be placed vertically for users to write messages and paste a picture to express their affection for loved ones, he added.
When the Taiwan Railways Administration introduced the Yong Bao An Kang memorial ticket set in 2010, it became a huge success, with 300,000 sets sold, Hsieh said, adding that a memorial set featuring the same route issued on Lunar Valentine’s Day in 2014 also won the hearts of railway fans.
Sales of the new memorial ticket set are to begin at Yongkang Railway Station at 8:30am on Saturday, Hsieh said.
There would only be 7,000 sets, priced NT$100 each, and only five can be sold per purchase, he said.
An exhibition at the station would display previous commemorative ticket sets and the history of the development of the nation’s railway system, he added.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their
RSS