New ways of thinking should be applied to the management of roads and highways in Hualien County, as its mountain slopes could remain unstable for the next seven to eight years, an official from the Directorate-General of Highways said after a rockfall damaged railway tracks near Heren Tunnel in the county’s Sioulin Township (秀林) yesterday.
Rockfalls and landslides have affected Suhua Highway and the North-link rail line more often than normal since a large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3.
The earthquake, which measured 7.2 on the Richter scale, struck 15km south of Hualien City and was the strongest temblor in Taiwan since 1999.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Railway Corp
A rock weighing an estimated 150 tonnes yesterday destroyed tracks near the tunnel. Heavy rain caused a landslide on Monday that buried part of the Suhua Highway between Heren (和仁) and Chongde (崇德).
The east railway line between the two communities has been temporarily closed, with trains running in both directions on the west line, Taiwan Railway Corp said.
There were multiple rockfalls and landslides last month, including a slide that led to the derailment of a New Tze-chiang Limited Express near the Cingshuei River (清水溪) on June 21.
April’s earthquake affected areas up to an altitude of 1,000m and resulted in unprecedented damage to the Suhua Highway and the Central Cross-lsland Highway, with much of the region’s vegetation ruined by slope collapses and falling rocks, Directorate-General of Highways official Lin Wen-hsiung (林文雄) said.
“Due to the damage, 10mm of rainfall could cause a rockfall, when it used to take 50mm to 60mm,” Lin said.
For example, only 1mm of rainfall led to the June 21 derailment, he said, adding that rockfalls are occurring almost every day on slopes along the Central Cross-lsland Highway, which passes through Taroko Gorge.
The slopes and roads in mountainous areas would “remain unstable for the following seven to eight years, or even 20 years” based on Japan’s experience after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake on Jan. 17, 1995, so “we should abandon outdated ideas and consider newly developed situations to manage roads and highways,” Lin said.
People will have to be prepared for land collapses for years to come, although senior officials say the rockfall situation might stabilize after typhoons clear unstable material, he said.
In addition to slope maintenance, rockfall barriers and fences should be added and more rock sheds, or open-cut tunnels, should be built on the roads that pass through Taroko Gorge, Lin said, adding that most of the engineering projects have already been outsourced to contractors.
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