The government began evaluating the feasibility of building a high-speed rail (HSR) extension from Taipei to Yilan 21 years ago, the Railway Bureau said yesterday, adding that it did not cut corners by scrapping the feasibility study of the project.
While the bureau has yet to complete a preliminary assessment of the Yilan extension, such as the location for a terminal station, critics accused Ministry of Transportation and Communications officials of “trampling procedural justice” and “allowing politics to transcend professionalism.”
The ministry began assessing the feasibility of extending the line to Yilan in 2000, the bureau said, adding that it dropped the plan due to the terms of the contract between the government and Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp.
Photo: Cheng Wei-chi, Taipei Times
The ministry in 2004 completed plans to build a straight railway line connecting Taipei and Yilan instead of a longer, circuitous route along the northeast coast. The straight-line plan was rejected by the Environmental Protection Administration’s assessment committee in 2006.
The ministry in 2009 began new research into possible ways to increase train speed between the Taiwan Railway Administration’s (TRA) Nangang Station and Hualien Station, the bureau said.
In November 2011, the Executive Yuan allowed the ministry to formulate a comprehensive plan for the project, but it instructed it to consider every possible option and conduct a comprehensive analysis, the bureau said.
The plan, completed in September 2013, showed that a straight railway route connecting Taipei and Yilan would have a limited effect on easing railway service congestion between Shulin Station in New Taipei City and Cidu (七堵) in Keelung, as all newly added train services could only depart from Taipei’s Nangang District (南港).
The straight route would increase the complexity of the TRA’s operation, the bureau said, adding that the line would involve housing relocations in Nangang.
“The high-speed rail station in Nangang can be expanded to accommodate more train services. As such, it has been one of the options under consideration,” the bureau said.
The feasibility research for the high-speed rail extension to Yilan is to be conducted based on data and studies that the ministry has been accumulating for more than two decades for the straight route between Taipei and Yilan, the bureau said, adding that the plan needs to be approved by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and the Executive Yuan.
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