Railways in Taiwan

Railway development in Taiwan began under Qing dynasty governor Liu Mingchuan (劉銘傳), who initiated construction in 1887 and opened the Keelung to Hsinchu route in October 1891. Under Japanese colonial rule the Railway Bureau, established in 1899, undertook extensive expansion, completing the north-south main line from Keelung to Kaohsiung in April 1908 and developing an extensive network exceeding 5,000 kilometers of track by the 1930s. Numerous industrial lines were built, including the Alishan Forest Railway and branch networks for transporting sugarcane, salt, and other commodities. In the post-war era the ROC administration modernized and electrified the conventional railway system, completing the loop around Taiwan with the opening of the South-Return Railway (南迴鐵路) in 1991. Taiwan High Speed Rail commenced operations on January 5, 2007, providing rapid transit between major cities along the western coast.