Railways of Taiwan

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

• 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.

• 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.

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

• Alishan Forest Railway (阿里山森林鐵路): A narrow gauge rail line that runs 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 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 Sugar Company (台灣糖業公司): A series of narrow gauge lines mostly in central and southern Taiwan, originally built to haul sugarcane, but provided limited passenger service. Passager services discontinued in 1982.

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.

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