A Ministry of Transportation and Communications proposal to build a high-speed rail extension line connecting Taipei and Yilan has drawn criticism from transportation experts, with some saying it should be the last resort to ease holiday traffic jams on the Chiang Wei-shui Memorial Freeway (Freeway No. 5).
Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) announced the proposal when he was visiting Yilan on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, he confirmed that the ministry has begun to assess the possibility of building the extension.
The ministry’s Railway Bureau had also started a study on the feasibility of building a railway line that goes straight from Taipei to Yilan, which would be different from the existing one which passes through the northeast coast.
The bureau has identified two possible corridors for a new Taipei-Yilan line, with the ministry and Yilan residents favoring the first one, which is shorter than the second one by about 17km and would cut travel time to 37 minutes.
Lin said that this option would be subject to change, as it still needs to be approved by the environmental assessment committee.
The option for first route was rejected by the environmental assessment committee in 2006, but the ministry can resubmit the proposal after making adjustments to the construction plan.
The Taipei Feitsui Reservoir Administration had also opposed construction of the first route, saying that the reservoir had already gone through the “dark ages” for 19 years when the Beiyi Highway and Huehshan Tunnel were being built.
The ministry’s proposal for the high-speed rail extension, on top of the proposed direct railway link, has met with criticism from experts.
“The ministry would have a hard time convincing members of the environmental assessment committee to approve a project that would build a straight railway line between Taipei and Yilan, as the route would pass through the Feitsui Reservoir and geologically fragile zones,” Central Police University adjunct associate professor Kurt Lee (李克聰) said. “Now it is even proposing to build a high-speed rail extension, which would bring greater environmental damage and pose bigger construction risks.”
The ministry should see if it has done everything it could to improve the traffic in Yilan through traffic management measures before it starts talking about building new transportation infrastructure, Lee said.
Even if the construction is inevitable, priority should be given to highway or railway constructions, he said, adding that a high-speed rail extension should be the last resort.
Former minister of transportation and communications Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) said that the govenrment must first gauge if there is demand for such a railway service, or the system would be left unused most of the time.
“Whether it is a high-speed rail extension or a direct railway link operated by the TRA [Taiwan Railways Administration], commuters would have to transfer to a different transport system once they arrive in Yilan,” Hochen said.
“The ministry should not only assess the difficulties of different types of construction; it should also conduct an analysis on demand, including examining peak-hour and off-peak-hour traffic volume and resolving parking problems,” he added.
It would be more meaningful to use part of the designated construction fund to improve the public transfer system and offer parking information, he said.
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