A new railway electrification project in Taiwan’s far south is set to be completed late in December. The project’s completion will cut travel time around Taiwan’s southern tip, bringing the island’s west and east coasts closer together.
The South Link Line is the southernmost section of the railroad that loops around Taiwan. It connects big cities of the southwest like Kaohsiung with the less populous east coast, and it is popular with tourists and rail enthusiasts for its dramatic coastal views of the Pacific.
The line was finished in 1991, but it has still not been electrified. Electrification isn’t far off, though. A project to electrify the line is set for completion in late December, just in time for New Year’s Day celebrations. Taiwan’s railway administration is offering discounts from December 23 to January 3 for passengers on this line.
Even once the festive season is over, though, the newly electrified line should continue to be well-used: electrification is expected to shave 27 minutes off the journey from Kaohsiung to Taitung in the southeast, and 39 minutes off the trip from Kaohsiung to Hualien, further up the east coast.