The Tourism Administration brought back an award-winning train livery used in Japan last year and painted it on a Taiwan Railway Corp EMU700 commuter train, which entered service yesterday for a six-month run to promote local tourism in the northeast.
Taiwan Railway’s EMU700 train, repainted with what was first called the “BiBiBiBi! Taiwan” livery when it was used for a tourism promotion campaign in Greater Tokyo from June 7 to Sept. 28 last year, was inaugurated for service at Shulin Station in New Taipei City.
The EMU700 train’s silver carriage was covered in the classic red used for the Keikyu 1000 series model along with specially designed kanji for Taiwan, which shows popular Taiwanese products, including orchids, tea and pineapples.
Photo courtesy of the Northeast and Yilan Coast National Scenic Area Administration via CNA
Tourism Administration Director-General Chen Yu-hsiu (陳玉秀), who took up the post on Friday last week, said she proposed to her predecessor the idea of bringing the special train’s look back to Taiwan after it won an award from the Tokyo Outdoor Advertising Association in March.
The Tourism Administration is working on getting more Japanese visitors to Taiwan, she said, adding that she hoped the tourism train between Yilan and destinations in Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan can draw more visitors to the Northeast and Yilan Coast National Scenic Area.
Taiwan Railway chairman James Jeng (鄭光遠) said at the ceremony that he had decided to extend the run of the train, now called “Beep Beep Taiwan,” from the originally planned three months to six months.
The goal is to promote tourism in New Taipei City’s Ruifang (瑞芳) and Gongliao (貢寮) districts, as well as in Yilan County, Jeng said.
Meanwhile, the Northeast and Yilan Coast National Scenic Area Headquarters highlighted in a statement the ongoing Fulong International Sand Sculpture Arts Festival that runs until Sept. 30 and other attractions related to the former mining town of Jioufen (九份) in New Taipei City.
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