Taiwan Today

One of the world's most spectacular railroads was opened to traffic February 1. The North Link Railway connects Suao and Hualien on the Taiwan east coast and is the next-to-last segment of a round-the-island system. This is an area in which the Central Mountain Range descends precipitously to the sea. So the route of 82.3 kilometers had to be tunneled for more than a third of the distance. The tunnel count is 15. Twenty-two bridges cover 5.3 kilometers.

 

 

Plans for a Suao-Hualien railroad go back a good many years. The Japanese were interested during their 1895-1945 occupation period but decided that the terrain was too formidable. The Chinese government began surveys in 1947 but actual construction didn't get under way until 1973. The highway—still one-way for much of the distance—gives indication of the construction problem. Mountains drop straight down to the Pacific. So the road had to be carved and blasted out of hillsides high above the ocean. The rail route could not be perched above or below the road and had to be tunneled through the mountains themselves. Of the 15 tunnels, the longest is 7.75 kilometers, one is 5.3 kilometers, another is 4 kilometers and three are of about 400 meters. It takes 12 minutes of running time for the train to pass through the longest tunnel. Retired servicemen working on the projects obtained Big John excavators for tunnel digging only to find the rock deposits chewed the machines to pieces.

They had to invent new ways to claw their way through the mountains. Much of the work was just that—clawing. Engineers and workmen found that there wasn't any substitute for a strong back and powerful arms wielding a pick and shovel. It was dangerous, too. Twenty lives were lost in the course of construction. The original estimate of the time required was five years; it turned out to be six years. The cost went up from an original estimate of US$78 million to about US$203 million. The railway will be worth every life and every cent it cost. It cuts the surface transportation time from Taipei to Hualien in half and will contribute to exploitation of east coast resources and the growth of population in Taiwan's last sparsely settled areas. Soon trains will go on south to Taitung and then all the way around the island.

Taiwan's east coast is not far in terms of distance. The problem has always been the mountains and the lack of transportation. Only the air route has been fast. That is now overcome. From Suao to Hualien is two hours compared to four or less by hazardous road. After the new roadbed is settled, the Taipei-Hualien time will be only about three hours. For the tourist, this is a scenic journey across the Ilan plain and then through the rugged mountains stretching southward. There are seascapes, too, because the mountains occasionally let down to the sea, providing brief stretches of lovely beaches and an outlook on the blue Pacific. Beyond each of more than a dozen stations, however, is another tunnel and some more bridges. Even before its completion, the railroad was serving new cement plants as well as other business interests. Property owners were so enthusiastic that they donated part of the route.