Old_Mountain_Railway_Taiwan-Ta-an_river-bridge-P1020654

The Former Mountain line () is a railway

branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industri ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

operated by the

Taiwan Railways Administration Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) is a railway operator in Taiwan. It is an agency of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, responsible for managing, maintaining, and running conventional passenger and freight railway services ...

. The name literally means "old Mountain line" (another name for the

Taichung line The Taichung line (), also known as the Mountain line (), is a line of the Taiwan Railway Administration, which one of two parallel lines in Central Taiwan section offsetting to inland mountain area. It has a total length of 85.5 km, all of w ...

) and can refer to any section of the Taichung line that ceased operations when it was replaced by a newer rail. However, the term is most widely used to refer to the segment between

Sanyi Sanyi () or Nanpanshun (), also known by Cantonese romanizations such as Sam Yup and Nam Pun Shun, refers to the three districts (former counties) of Nanhai, Panyu and Shunde surrounding Guangzhou and Foshan in Guangdong, China. Geography The f ...

and Houli stations. The line was completed in 1903 and began operations in 1908. Operantions were suspended on September 24, 1998 with the opening of a newer route to the west, and all stations between Sanyi and Houli closed down. Between June 5–9, 2010, to promote tourism, the Former Mountain Line resumed service between Sanyi and Tai'an Old station using a

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

numbered CK124. The Taiwan Railways Administration also attempted to renovate the line for operation, but the construction bidding attracted no contractors. Since then, the

Miaoli County Government The Miaoli County Government () is the local government of the Republic of China that governs Miaoli County. History The county government used to be housed in a building next to the current building which is now used as the Miaoli County Ur ...

has hosted an additional six events using steam locomotives. Other than that, the line has no scheduled passenger services.

Route

The Former Mountain line is 15.9 km long and runs parallel to the

. It uses a gauge. From

station, the line branches eastward and climbs to a height of 402.326 meters above sea level at Shengxing station, which is the highest point of any TRA track. From Shengxing, the track snakes through the mountains before passing through the site of the removed Yutengping station, bypassing

Longteng Bridge The Longteng Bridge (), officially known as the Yutengping Bridge (), is a former bridge in Longteng Village, Sanyi Township, Miaoli County, Taiwan. History The bridge was built in 1906 during Japanese rule, and was named . It was designed b ...

, a destroyed railway bridge. Then, it crosses the

Da'an River The Da'an River () is a river in northwestern Taiwan. It is the seventh-longest river on the island, it flows through Miaoli County and Taichung City for . It reaches the Taiwan Strait between the Dajia District and Da'an District, Taichung. Th ...

and arrives at Tai'an Old station before merging with the Taichung line again at Houli station.

Stations

References

TRA routes 3 ft 6 in gauge railways in Taiwan 1908 establishments in Taiwan Railway lines opened in 1908 1998 disestablishments in Taiwan Railway lines closed in 1998 {{Taiwan-rail-transport-stub