The new underground Tainan Railway Station was unveiled to the public for the first time yesterday ahead of its official opening next month.
The Tainan City Government said that train operations are scheduled to officially move to the new underground station on Oct. 18.
The Railway Bureau said that the existing Tainan Railway Station, a designated national heritage site, would be closed for restoration once the new underground station becomes operational.
Photo: Wu Liang-yi, Taipei Times
Train passengers would access the new underground facility through a different entrance while the train station is being restored, it said.
The bureau invited news media to see the facilities inside the newly built station, including the train control room, central monitoring room, telecommunications equipment room, tunnel ventilation plant room and ballastless tracks.
The station would be equipped with the Taiwan Railway Corp’s fourth-generation ticketing machines, which have eliminated the function for processing magnetic-stripe tickets and would be equipped with QR code scanners.
The Tainan underground railway station is equipped with a range of new rail, signaling and safety systems designed to improve train operations and passenger safety, the bureau’s Southern Region Engineering Branch said in its briefing.
The underground railway has 10 ventilation rooms equipped with 19 tunnel ventilation fans, silencers, control dampers and power-supply equipment. The systems provide routine air circulation and can be switched to emergency ventilation mode during fires to remove smoke and maintain airflow, making it possible for personnel to evacuate within 900 seconds of critical period.
The station’s train control room is equipped with signaling control units, control panels, train information displays, overhead power control switches, closed-circuit television cameras, and wired and wireless dispatch communications.
The equipment enables dispatchers to monitor train locations, track conditions and switch status in real time, and adjust train operations or respond to incidents as needed, the bureau said.
A central monitoring room serves as the control hub for the underground railway tunnels and station.
It monitors tunnel ventilation, power supplies, access control, lighting, fire alarms, elevators and escalators, while CCTV provide views of the station concourse, platforms and underground tunnels.
The train control room and central monitoring room are considered the “brains” of the new underground railway station.
Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Liu Yun-sheng (劉雲生) said the station combines architectural elements reflecting Tainan’s history with rail, electrical and safety technologies to support safe and stable operations.
The bureau said that it is to hold open-house tours for the public this weekend and on Tuesday next week, led by professionals.
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