The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line.
The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service.
Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County.
Photo: Tsai Yun-rong, Taipei Times
It would also be the first tourism service train operating specifically between Hualien and Taitung counties, Lion Travel said.
Passengers would disembark at a few stops along the way, including Shoufong (壽豐), Yuli (玉里), Dongli (東里) and Fonglin (鳳林) townships.
From the platform of the Shoufong Railway Station, passengers can see the Coastal Mountain Range in the distance. They can also take a picture with the train and mountain range from a bridge near the station.
Photo: CNA
A guided tour would be offered in Yuli, where travelers can learn about the town’s history as the former terminal station of the Hualien-Taitung light rail, make soap and try local dishes. Dongli is reputed to be the most beautiful station on the mountain railway line, where travelers can see paddy fields.
One of Taiwan’s six certified “slow cities” by Cittaslow International, Fonglin has a rich immigration history dating back to the Japanese colonial era and is an important city to explore Hakka culture.
The design of the Shanlan Express was inspired by the scenery during the four seasons along the East Rift Valley, with yellow and green as the primary colors, the travel agency said.
The lunch that was served on board was prepared by award-winning chef Yeh Chi-lung (葉志隆), a Hualien County native. Yeh used ingredients produced by residents in Hualien and Taitung counties, and by indigenous peoples, such as the dumplings made using foxtail millet, rice produced in Taitung County’s Chihshang Township (池上), ducks raised in Hualien County’s Fuli Township (富里) and pork produced in Hualien.
For desserts, travelers can try wagashi, a Japanese-style pastry, made by Town Studio, a coffee shop in Hualien County’s Yuli.
The train’s interior design features green velvet seats, floor-to-ceiling windows and an onboard lighting system that changes when the train passes through tunnels.
The train cabins are scented with Indian sandalwood and green cardamom fragrances. An aromatherapy room was installed in the fourth carriage, which features the scent of Taiwania.
Travelers can book tickets for the tourism express train only or purchase tour packages that include accommodation. A one-way ticket costs NT$3,900, which includes lunch, certificates, gifts and insurance.
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Restarting the No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant would take up to 18 months, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said today. Kuo was answering questions during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee, where legislators are considering amendments to the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條) amid concerns about the consequences of the Pingtung County reactor’s decommissioning scheduled for May 17. Its decommissioning is to mark the end of Taiwan’s nuclear power production. However, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法) that would extend the life of existing
RSS