The Railways of Taiwan

For frustrated, non-Chinese speaking Railbuffs!!!!

 

PHOTOGRAPHS & MOVIES INDEX    The movies in these files are Windows Media Files (.wmv) unless otherwise stated.
TRA West Coast Main Line North - Passenger and freight trains and other scenes on the Taiwan Railway Administration's main line from Kee-lung to Chang-hua, including both the Mountain Line and the Coast Line
TRA West Coast Main Line South - Passenger and freight trains and other scenes on the Taiwan Railway Administration's main line from Chang-hua to Kaoh-siung, including freight lines around Kaoh-siung Harbour
TRA Ilan Line - Assorted scenes on the highly picturesque route from Pa-tu (south of Kee-lung) to Su-ao Old Station via I-lan and Lo-tung. This route follows the rugged north-east coast for most of the way and passes though some of the most dramatic scenery in Taiwan.
TRA North Link Line - Assorted scenes on the highly picturesque route from Pa-tu (south of Kee-lung) to Su-ao Old Station via I-lan and Lo-tung. This route follows the rugged north-east coast for most of the way and passes though some of the most dramatic scenery in Taiwan. Included in here are the harbour lines at Hualien.
TRA Huadong Line - Originally an isolated 2'-6" gauge line between Hua-lien and Tai-dong, this line was converted to 3'-6" gauge and realigned in parts with it's connection to the rest of the system in 1980 via the North Link. The line originally extended to Taidong Old in the city centre but this is now closed with the opening of Taidong New Station.
TRA Pingtung Line - Essentially an extension of the West Coast Main Line from Kaoh-siung across the flat plan of the Kao-ping River to Ping-tung and Fang-liao.
TRA South Link Line - The last section of the line around the island to be built, opening in 1992, making an end on connection at Fang-liao and running over a steeply graded alignment through the ridge of mountains to the east coast. Much of this single track line is in tunnel until it turns sharply north and drops to near sea level at Taidong New Station.
The Ping-hsi Branch - This line was originally built to carry coal from the mines along the valley from San-tiao-ling to Ching-tung and runs westwards from the mainline along the Keelung River to terminate south-east of Taipei. The mines have now closed and their remains can be seen at many places en-route. The town of Shih-fen is a popular destination for day trippers from Taipei.
The Nei-wan Branch - Although not as scenic as TRA's other two passenger branches (at least not until the last part, anyway), the Nei-wan branch runs through a more populated area from Hsin-chu to the pretty little town of Nei-wan. It is a busy line as can be seen from these clips and does have some originating freight from the cement works at Chu-tsan-tou.
The Chi-chi Branch - TRA's longest branch line from Er-shuei to Che-cheng in Nantou County. This pretty route was built originally to carry timber and sugar cane and later carried construction materials for the hydro-electric scheme at Che-cheng. The line now mainly caters for tourists with the terminal town at Che-cheng and the town of Chi-chi being well known tourist attractions.
The Alishan Railway - The dramatic narrow gauge mountain railway from Chia-yi to Alishan, 70 km long and climbing 2,200 metres by spirals, zig-zags and generally an incredible slog up fearful slopes, plunging through some 50-odd tunnels and soaring over viaducts through some of the most incredible scenery in the world (Well, I think so, anyway and it's my website!!!). Much of the journey is along mountainside ledges with precipitous drops to the valley floor below.
TSC Sugar Cane Railway Scenes - Photographs and movie clips filmed on the diminishing lines of the Taiwan Sugar Corporation's once vast 2'-6" network that covered most of the south-west coastal plains.

 

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