The Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications will add a second cable car line to Sun Moon Lake after the first one, which opened Dec. 28, 2009, proved to be a tremendous success.
The planned 4.72-kilometer cable line will take 12-15 minutes to travel between Hsiangshan, a spot at the southwestern corner of the lake, and Checheng, the terminal station of Jiji railway line in Nantou County, according to the bureau.
The project, whose completion date is slated for 2016 at the earliest, will cost an estimated NT$2.2 billion (US$68 million), the bureau added.
The existing 1.87-kilometer system that takes seven minutes to travel between the lake's Ita Shao Dock and the nearby Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village amusement park has drawn 1.52 million passengers, or around 10,000 per day, according to the Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration.
Over 3.3 million tourists visited the scenic area in 2009, while 2 million have already toured the lake in the first five months of this year. Of the 5.2 million visitors, 1.2 million came especially for the cable ride, according to the administration, which added that the number of visitors in 2010 is expected to exceed 6 million.
When the system opened, tourists lined up for as long as two hours to get in the cars, while now the queuing takes half an hour on average, park officials said.
According to Tseng Kuo-chi, director of the lake’s administrative office, the system under planning is expected to seamlessly connect travelers from the Jiji line, and shorten travel time by 10-13 minutes.
In the future, if the Jiji line can be extended to link with Changhua station on the Taiwan High Speed Rail, the trip between Taichung and the lake area can be halved to within one hour, Tseng added.
The administration is planning on introducing 103 cars to the new system, each capable of carrying eight passengers. Along the trip, travelers can enjoy the sights of Minghu Reservoir, Daguan Power Station and the Shuili River. (KL)