The Railway Reconstruction Bureau said yesterday it was still evaluating a proposed route connecting Taipei and Ilan but no decision would be made until September next year.
“In the meantime, we will see if there is any way we can raise the capacity of the North Link by straightening railway routes in some sections,” bureau Deputy Director General Chou Yung-hui (周永輝) said. “Whether the bureau builds a new railway route or simply chooses to raise the capacity of the North Link depends on which option is most efficient.”
The bureau’s comments came after Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said in Ilan on Monday that the ministry would review the possibility of building a new Taipei-Ilan railway.
The North Link is the only railway system connecting the west and east coasts and is built along the northeast coastal area.
The bureau proposed building a shorter line from Nangang (南港) to Jiaosi (礁溪) three years ago, Chou said. Such a route would reduce travel time between Taipei and Ilan by nearly an hour and would ease traffic in the Hsuehshan Tunnel.
The proposal, however, was rejected by the Environmental Protection Administration’s environment impact assessment (EIA) committee on the grounds the route would cross several water quality protection zones in Sindian (新店), Shuangsi (雙溪) and Gongliao (貢寮) and a soil and water conservation zone in Sijhih (汐止).
The committee said the proposed route would cross nine geological faults, and the bureau had not given a thorough explanation and assessment on the impact the line would have on them. The bureau ignored the fact that there were several archeological sites near the route in Ilan, which could be damaged by a construction project, the committee said.
Nevertheless, the committee ruled that the bureau could propose another plan for review.
Chou said the bureau received a NT$13 million (US$393,000) grant from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to start planning for a route different from the one proposed three years ago.
Building a new line would cost more than NT$50 billion, or NT$20 billion more than the route proposed three years ago. The original proposal generated controversy because the bureau would have had to build two railway tunnels, both longer than Hsuehshan Tunnel and just as difficult to construct.
A small number of Taiwanese this year lost their citizenship rights after traveling in China and obtaining a one-time Chinese passport to cross the border into Russia, a source said today. The people signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of neighboring Russia with companies claiming they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, the source said on condition of anonymity. The travelers were actually issued one-time-use Chinese passports, they said. Taiwanese are prohibited from holding a Chinese passport or household registration. If found to have a Chinese ID, they may lose their resident status under Article 9-1
PROCEDURE: Although there is already a cross-strait agreement in place for the extradition of criminals, ample notice is meant to be given to the other side first Ten Taiwanese who were involved in fraud-related crimes in China were extradited back to Taiwan via Kinmen County on Wednesday, four of whom are convicted fraudsters in Taiwan. The 10 people arrived via a ferry operating between Xiamen and Kinmen, also known as the “small three links.” The Kinmen County Prosecutors’ Office yesterday said that four of the 10 extradited people were convicted in Taiwan for committing fraud and contravening the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法), and were on the wanted list. They were immediately arrested upon arrival and sent to Kinmen Prison to serve their sentences following brief questioning, the office said.
‘REGRETTABLE’: Travelers reported that Seoul’s online arrival card system lists Taiwan as ‘China (Taiwan),’ the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday urged South Korea to correct the way Taiwan is listed in its newly launched e-Arrival card system, saying the current designation downgrades the nation’s status. South Korea rolled out the online system on Feb. 24 to gradually replace paper arrival cards, which it plans to phase out by next year. Travelers must complete the electronic form up to 72 hours before entering the country. The ministry said it has received multiple complaints from Taiwanese travelers saying that the system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in dropdown menus for both “place of departure” and “next
PROBLEMATIC APP: Citing more than 1,000 fraud cases, the government is taking the app down for a year, but opposition voices are calling it censorship Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday decried a government plan to suspend access to Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu (小紅書) for one year as censorship, while the Presidential Office backed the plan. The Ministry of the Interior on Thursday cited security risks and accusations that the Instagram-like app, known as Rednote in English, had figured in more than 1,700 fraud cases since last year. The company, which has about 3 million users in Taiwan, has not yet responded to requests for comment. “Many people online are already asking ‘How to climb over the firewall to access Xiaohongshu,’” Cheng posted on
RSS