Taiwan Railway Corp (TRC) could lose NT$58 billion (US$1.93 billion) over the next 30 years if the Ministry of Transportation and Communications insists on building a high-speed rail (HSR) extension from Taipei to Yilan City and abandons a plan to build a direct railway line connecting the cities, union members and civil groups said at a protest in Taipei yesterday.
Members of the Taiwan Railway Union, Public Nudge and the Alliance Overseeing the High Speed Rail Extension protested outside the ministry ahead of an environmental impact assessment meeting tomorrow, which is scheduled to review the HSR extension to Yilan City.
TRC last month said that its revenue would decrease approximately NT$800 million annually when the extension becomes operational.
Photo: CNA
The state-run firm’s financial losses in the next 30 years could expand to NT$58 billion if it also cancels the plan to build the Taipei-Yilan direct railway line, the groups said.
The ministry has held only three public hearings on the HSR extension project, which is estimated to cost NT$350 billion, they said.
The direct railway line project would cost only one-third of the extension, facilitate traffic to the east coast and could significantly improve the TRC’s financial situation, they added.
TRC employees were “astonished and angry” to learn about the progress of the HSR project on the news, Taiwan Railway Union board director Lin Chia-chin (林佳謹) said.
The company has yet to disclose the financial losses it would sustain in the next few years due to the extension project, nor has it explained how it would cope with repercussions, such as potential decreased earnings, as well as how it could afford to pay employees’ salaries and bonuses, she said.
“We want to ask why the ministry insists on advancing the high-speed rail extension project when they already have a project to build a direct railway line between Taipei and Yilan. The NT$200 billion that could be saved could be used to improve the operations of TRC, which benefits the whole country,” she said.
Public Nudge adviser Lin Wan-gen (林旺根) said the extension could cost the country NT$400 billion, and yet there would be only one HSR station in Yilan.
The extension would only help ease the traffic on the Chiang Wei-shui Memorial Freeway (Freeway No. 5) by less than 5 percent, but it would take away a significant number of passengers from TRC, further weakening the railway system, he said.
To take the high-speed rail in Yilan City, people would need to travel to the station by cars, motorbikes, taxis, buses and railways, which would create traffic problems around the station, he said.
The government would need to build on farmland for the extension, disrupting the agricultural industry in rural areas in Yilan County, and when the station is finished, it would lead to concentrated population growth in just a few areas in the county, he said.
Alliance convener Kang Fang-min (康芳銘) said the ministry’s environmental assessment report for the extension showed that most of the passengers boarding it would be traveling short distances, adding that 80 percent of the passengers on the extension would be traveling between Taipei and Yilan during the holidays.
Whether the HSR station can function as a transit hub for the east coast is questionable, he said.
Former minister of transportation and communications Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) criticized the handling of the direct rail project, citing two major issues.
First, the government abandoned the plan and changed the railway route without following proper procedures or submitting the feasibility study for review by the ministry and the National Development Council, he said.
Second, the ministry seriously neglected public participation in the project, especially in Yilan County, he said.
Requests from civic groups and the county council were ignored, additional public hearings were refused and committee members’ opinions were disregarded, with some meetings held behind closed doors, Hochen said.
He urged the environmental assessment committee members to uphold their professional responsibility and reminded decisionmakers not to lose sight of TRC’s original purpose.
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