Railways of Taiwan - Definition

Overview

The Railways of Taiwan can generally be catagorized into the following groups:

Interurban Railways

• Taiwan High Speed Rail (台灣高速鐵路): High speed rail system based on Shinkansen technology. Currently under construction, due to be completed in late 2005.

• Taiwan Railway Administration (台灣鐵路局): The TRA runs most of the main passenger and freight lines in Taiwan as well as three branch lines.

Urban Metro

• CKS International Airport Access MRT System (中正機場聯外捷運系統): This line will connect Taipei Main Station, Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, and THSR Taoyuan Station. Construction will begin in 2005. Scheduled for service in 2009.

• Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit (高雄捷運系統): Underground metro system currently under construction in Kaohsiung. Scheduled for service in 2006.

• Taichung Metropolitan Area MRT System (台中捷運): The project was approved in 2004. Scheduled for service in 2011.

• Taipei Rapid Transit System (台北大眾捷運系統): The TRTS (also known as the MRT) runs a series of light rail and underground metro systems throughout the metropoliton Taipei area.

Industrial Railways

Originally built for the transportation of industrial products, these railroads have become tourist attractions.

• Alishan Forest Railway (阿里山森林鐵路): A narrow gauge rail line that runs from Chiayi City to the popular mountain resort of Alishan. Originally built by the Japanese Colonial Government for the logging industry in 1912, this line now caters mostly to tourists.

• Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台灣糖業公司): A series of narrow gauge lines mostly in central and southern Taiwan, originally built to haul sugarcane by Meiji Sugar Co.,Ltd. during Japanese rule, but also capable of providing limited passenger service. Regular passager services discontinued in 1982. In 2003, some short-distance train services resumed.

Cultural

Railways in Taiwan often have a romantic connotation, especially amongst the older generation who remember growing up when rail travel was the primary means of transportation between cities in simpler (and less prosperous) times. Many remember leaving their hometowns to attend school in far away cities by train or leaving via train to perform their compulsory military service. This nostalgia has often been capitalized upon in recent years through the introduction of various items such as "nostalgia box lunches" (懷舊便當), claimed to be authentic copies of the box lunches that were once served aboard trains.

There is also a sizable network of railway fans in Taiwan which has increased with the recent trend of Taiwanization.