Raising the operating speed of the railway service connecting Hualien and Taitung counties to 160kph is unfeasible due to safety issues, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) said yesterday.
The ministry in the past advocated using the high-speed rail system as the core of the railway network on the west coast and using an express train system on the east coast.
The policy aimed to limit the operating time in each of the four railway sections to fewer than 90 minutes: Taipei to Kaohsiung’s Zuoying (左營), Zuoying to Taitung, Taitung to Hualien and Hualien to Taipei. That would make it possible to travel around Taiwan proper by railway in six hours.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The Chinese Nationalist Party caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) asked Chen in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee if the ministry intends to implement the policy, which had been proposed by former transportation ministers and premier.
“It was indeed our policy. However, after a thorough study, we found the policy to be unfeasible. The operating speed cannot be safely raised to 160kph,” Chen said.
The government should fulfill its pledge, Fu said.
The Railway Bureau said that it conducted the feasibility study for the eastern express railway project from September 2020 to May 2023.
“Although the project is technically feasible, after accounting for its overall economic and financial benefits, it turns out to be unfeasible,” the bureau said.
“Enforcing the project would involve upgrading the railway signaling system and eliminating railway crossings by building railway overpasses or initiating grade operation projects. We first need to undertake prudent evaluations,” the bureau said.
It said that it would instead focus on upgrading existing railway lines using heavy rail standards, optimizing the alignment of railway lines, and reinforcing railway bridges, steel railway tracks, power cables and other infrastructure.
Such improvement plans have already been incorporated into projects to electrify the railway line connecting Hualien and Taitung and building dual tracks on the line, the bureau said.
It is also studying the feasibility of realigning and building dual tracks on bottlenecks of the South Link Line (南迴線), it said.
The overall operating speed and passenger service capacity are expected to increase once these projects are completed, the bureau said.
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