The Ministry of Culture (MOC) yesterday said it has reached an agreement with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) to turn the Taipei Railway Workshop into a national railway museum.
The three parties will further discuss how they can coordinate with one another, the MOC said.
The workshop will be divided into different zones to carry out restoration work in different stages the culture ministry said, adding that the zones could be opened to visitors one at a time once work at each zone is complete.
“We are considering offering guided tours to registered visitors while restoration work is still in progress, so that visitors can personally experience how the historical site is restored and revitalized,” the Ministry of Culture said in a statement.
The culture ministry said that the workshop is where the nation’s railway system grew and evolved and is a testament to the development of the nation’s railroad infrastructure and modern industry.
It is also a historic indicator of how the Taipei metropolitan area expanded from the west to the east, it added.
To preserve the site, the property of the workshop was designated as a national historical site on April 16 last year.
However, the plan to turn the workshop into a national railway museum has yet to be approved by the Executive Yuan, as it involves several unresolved issues, from the funding of the restoration and the museum’s place in the urban development plan of Taipei to the railway operator’s ability to sustain itself financially to operate such a museum, it said.
The culture ministry said it can only entrust professionals with the task of delivering a plan on how they can restore the historical site.
“We understand that the TRA, as a railway operator, has an important task of continuing to upgrade the railway infrastructure to enhance the safety, convenience and comfort of the public transport system,” MOC Minister Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said.
“The cooperation between the MOC and the TRA will ensure that the cultural asset can be preserved and the TRA can stay financially afloat. We hope that this glory of the railroad personnel can become a new center of attraction for tourism and culture in the nation’s capital,” Cheng added.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
RSS