The Taoyuan City Government said that maintenance of the remaining section of the first railway to be built in the nation, located in the city’s Gueishan District (龜山), is not its responsibility, but that of the Directorate-General of Highways (DGH).
The city was responding to a comment by Taoyuan City Councilor Fan Kang-hsiang (范綱祥) of the Democratic Progressive Party, who raised the issue during a council session on Thursday, saying that the Gueilunling Railway Section heritage site is ill-maintained, shows signs of structural damage and is covered with trash.
Taoyuan is home to only 17 heritage sites out of the 815 across the nation and should exert more effort to care for the few it has, Fan said.
The site was part of a railway line connecting Taipei to Hsinchu that was built by then-Taiwan governor Liu Ming-chuan (劉銘傳) in 1893.
Despite being named a county-designated heritage site in 2008 — and later upgraded to a city-designated heritage site following Taoyuan’s elevation to a special municipality in 2014 — Fan said the site had not been given due care.
As the railway section is close to a river, the trash littering the site might contaminate the water, he said, adding that parts of the railway on the Second Jianshan Bridge (尖山) show signs of structural damage, which might cause the entire section to collapse if it is not reinforced.
Taoyuan Department of Cultural Affairs Director-General Chuang Hsiu-mei (莊秀美) said the section forms part of the support for the first branch of Highway No. 1; therefore, maintenance of the heritage site is the responsibility of the DGH.
The DGH has performed annual safety checks, which showed that the site’s structural integrity is sound, Chuang said.
DGH Jhongli Service Section chief Lin Tien-lu (林天祿) said that trash found on the “surface” of Highway No. 1 is the agency’s responsibility, but whether the trash was found on the heritage site’s “surface area” has yet to be determined.
In related news, Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) said the city government would assist in building up scenic sites near the railway section to facilitate tourist visits.
However, Taoyuan Cultural Information Department section chief Wei Shu-chen (魏淑真) said that plans to open the heritage site to public visits has been put on hold pending further assessment.
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