TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Taiwan High Speed Rail southern extension to Pingtung will pass through Kaohsiung Railway Station, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said Saturday.
The 40-kilometer route between Zuoying Station and Pingtung City will boost economic development in the area, he added. Several tracks had been looked at, with considerations such as disruption caused by construction work and the potential danger of nearby chemical plants.
Cho said the chosen route would reduce the impact on traffic and the environment to a minimum, and result in the greening of the area. In combination with the track, the region would grow into a new Silicon Valley, the Liberty Times reported.
The 28.8-km track will follow the original Taiwan Railway route and take the trains underground to Kaohsiung Station and then east to Liukuaicuo in Pingtung. The budget for the project was estimated at NT$121.7 billion (US$3.7 billion) in 2018.
The transportation ministry had initially settled on an elevated track from north of Zuoying heading east, but in July it revised its opinion and said the Kaohsiung option was still on the table. A series of hearings identified risks with the Zuoying option, while concluding the track taking the trains through Kaohsiung Station would allow closer ties to the conventional railroad and urban mass rapid transit networks.
Cho announced the choice for the Kaohsiung option at the opening of new buildings in Kaohsiung Station. The nation’s High Speed Rail line began operations in 2007 between Taipei and Zuoying, but extensions were approved in the north between Taipei’s Nangang Station and Yilan, and the south between Zuoying Station and Pingtung.
