The Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) said that it began researching the possibility of building a third railway track on the nation’s east coast two years ago, adding that a plan is to be submitted to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications for final approval by the end of this year.
The proposed plan came under scrutiny again as the Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has made it one of her campaign platforms.
Based on TRA’s plan, a third railway track between Suao (蘇澳) and Hualien would be used to transport cargo only, with the estimated construction costs of about NT$80 billion (US$2.4 billion). The administration said that it is planning to connect the section between Suao and Chungde (崇德) using a renovated railway track on the North Link Railway (北迴線) line, which has been disused for about 10 years.
A completely new railway line is to be built along the Pacific Coast to connect the section between Chungde and Jincheng (金城), the administration said.
The number of railway tracks in the Wuta (武塔) Station would be increased from two to four so cargo trains can shunt to allow the passing of the Puyuma Express or Taroko Express trains, the two fastest passenger train services offered by TRA.
The administration said that it was not able to increase the frequencies of the Puyuma or Taroko Express trains because of the limited capacity of the Suao-Hualien section.
The administration said that the section has many cement factories along the way, which would hire the cargo train service to transport their products.
The diesel-powered cargo trains move slowly, which means the agency would have to limit passenger train services to avoid congestion.
TRA Director-General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) said that the agency has been looking into the viability of a third railway track on the east coast for two years, adding that it can still use the old railway track on the North Link Railway without having to change the route.
Chou said that not only does the route have room for a third railway track, but it also has space for a fourth railway track.
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