The Tainan City Government and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ Railway Bureau on Wednesday announced plans to renovate and add to the Tainan Railway Station and unveiled a model of the upgraded facility.
The station’s status as a historical site is to remain unchanged, the city government said, adding that the main building would be connected to underground portions of the additions.
People would access the station via Beimen Road and enter new underground sections from the original main building, it said, adding that a new entrance to the underground sections would be built on Cianfong Road.
As there is limited space around the station, the additions could not be too big, the Tainan Department of Urban Development said.
Repurposing the old station while combining existing and new features was a major part of the design process, the department said.
The station is fourth nationwide in terms of passenger numbers per year and is an important transportation hub, Acting Tainan Mayor Li Meng-yen (李孟諺) said.
The plan is for the original main building to become a tourist attraction, while plazas in the new sections would allow people to gather for performances or other events, Li said.
The municipal government plans to plant royal poinciana trees around the station when the work is finished, as they bear the city’s official flower, Li said.
Architect Chang Ma-lung (張瑪龍) said that the design — especially a new roof — was based on the tree.
Sunken plazas are to connect existing surface-level areas with new underground lobbies, Chang said.
Railway Bureau Director Hu Hsiang-lin (胡湘麟) said the new facility would accommodate a project to build as much as 8.23km of subsurface lines through Tainan.
The plan is to add two stations — one on Linsen Road and a southern Tainan underground station — and remove nine crossings, eight tunnels, two rail bridges and three road bridges, Hu said.
This would allow the city government to reconnect areas that are divided by railway lines and improve safety for drivers and trains, Hu said.
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