The Tamsui line () was a Taiwanese railroad
branch line, located in the cities of
Taipei
Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...
and
New Taipei and 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 ...
(TRA). It connected the city of Taipei with the town of
Tamsui. The route is currently served by the Taipei Metro
Tamsui–Xinyi line
Tamsui District (Hokkien POJ: ''Tām-chúi''; Hokkien Tâi-lô: ''Tām-tsuí''; Mandarin Pinyin: ''Dànshuǐ'') is a seaside district in New Taipei, Taiwan. It is named after the Tamsui River; the name means "fresh water". The town is popul ...
.
History
![Tamsui Line Train passed by](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Tamsui_Line_Train_passed_by.jpg)
After Japan gradually occupied Taiwan in 1895 (during
Japanese rule), the main transportation port was still the Port of Damtsui. Traditionally, materials were transported from Damtsui Port "upriver" in small canoes. To improve the surface transport capacity from Damtsui Port to Taihoku and the rest of Taiwan, the Ministry of Railways in the Taiwan Directorate-General arranged to utilize the railway materials reclaimed from the reconstruction of the Taihoku-Shinchiku segment of the Ching-dynasty West Coast Main Line to survey and layout a railway line along the east bank of the Damtsui river. This became known as the Damtsui Line. The construction cost of the Damtsui Line was much less than the original plan, costing only 720,000 yen. This line was also used to transport new railway construction materials imported from Japan, and ballast stone from a quarry near Shirin.
The Tamsui Line officially opened on 25 August 1901, with five stations (see initial timetable below). Eventually a total of 17 stations were operational, two of which (
Dadaocheng, Beimen), located south of
Taipei Railway Station
Taipei Main Station () is a railway and metro station in Taipei, Taiwan. It is served by Taiwan High Speed Rail, the Taiwan Railways Administration, and the Taipei Metro. It is also connected through underground passageways to the terminal sta ...
were closed to passenger traffic by 1916 and 1923 respectively (the former station, located on a branch, continued to be used by freight trains until 1937). Changan and
Jiantan Station
Jiantan (, formerly transliterated as Chientan Station until 2003) is a metro station in Taipei, Taiwan served by Taipei Metro. There was a station of the same name on the now-defunct Tamsui railway line, however the position was different; the TR ...
s were shut down in 1950. In 1954 a temporary
Fuxinggang Station
The Taipei Metro Fuxinggang station (formerly transliterated as Fuhsing Kang Station until 2003) is located in Beitou District, Taipei, Taiwan. It is a station on the Tamsui Line. In the past, the station belonged to the now-defunct TRA Tamsui Li ...
was built for the 9th annual Taiwan Province Games, which closed after the games ended. A spur track known as the Asia Branch Line located before Tamsui Station provided access to the British Merchant Warehouse operated by
Royal Dutch Shell
Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...
, which was closed in 1971 and the surviving track was heritage-listed along with the British Merchant Warehouse in 2000. In addition,
Tatung Company had a station located between
Shuanglian and
Yuanshan Station
Yuanshan () is a metro station in Taipei, Taiwan served by Taipei Metro. It is a station on the . There was a station of the same name on the now-defunct Tamsui railway line.
Station overview
The two-level, elevated station structure with one ...
s, which was originally built during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, finally opened on 7 October 1946 and closed on 1 March 1980. The Tamsui Line was formally closed on 15 July 1988, however, the Taiwan Railway Administration ran the route once more the next day. The Tamsui rail line was later demolished to make way for the
Taipei Metro Tamsui Line
The Tamsui line () was a Taiwanese railroad branch line, located in the cities of Taipei and New Taipei and operated by the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA). It connected the city of Taipei with the town of Tamsui. The route is currently serve ...
, which currently operates along a route similar to that of the one occupied by the TRA Tamsui Line during its existence.
Infrastructure
The Tamsui line was a single track line with passing sidings at most stations. Sidings range from just over 1 mile apart to the maximum distance between Zhuwei and Tamsui which was a 2.6-mile segment. Because of the limited capacity, the maximum operable headway was every half-hour. Passing sidings that allows trains to pass each other on the single track were located in: Shuanglien, Yuanshan, Shihlin, Peitou, and Chuwei. Service north of Peitou was more intensive. The entire line was token-worked; tokens (staff) must be exchanged at most stations for onwards movement authority. Trains taking about 45 minutes to travel end-to-end sometimes had to meet as many as four trains travelling in the opposite direction.
Route Characteristics
Operating jurisdiction: Taiwan Railway Administration
Route distance: 21.2 km between Taipei and Tamsui
Gauge: 1,067 mm
Number of stations: 11 (including both terminus—number of stations remaining when line was abandoned)
Opened: 25 August 1901 opened entire line (1916 Tataocheng Station was converted to a freight-only station, the southern terminus was moved to North Gate Station; on 2 March 1923 North Gate Station was abolished, southern terminus was moved to Taipei Main Station; in 1937 the segment between Tataocheng Freight Station and Taipei Main Station was officially abandoned.)
Abolition Time: 15 July 1988 was the last day of operations; line was formally abandoned the following day, on July 16
Taiwan's first railway branch line to be connected to the trunk line network
Taiwan's first railway branch line to be converted to a mass rapid transit line
Vehicle Assignment
The regular train was hauled by R0 or R20 class diesel-electric locomotive, typically with four ordinary non-air-conditioned coaches. In the 1960s through the 1970s, S200, S300, and S400 class diesel electric locomotives commonly hauled short commuter trains on the Tamsui Line. After the project to convert East Coast Main Line to 1,067 mm gauge (from an earlier ~800 mm narrow gauge), the displaced diesel-hydraulic locomotive DH200 class was converted for a period of service on the Tamsui line.
The last train was hauled by R20-class locomotive R53, with extra passenger cars attached.
Passenger Timetables
File:台灣日日新報交通便覽.jpg, 25 October 1901 public schedule in the Taiwan Daily New News
File:DamtsuiLine1967.png, 1967 Passenger Schedule
File:DamtsuiLine1984.jpg, January 1984 Timetable
File:Damtsui Line 1985 07.png, July 1985 Timetable
File:TRA Damtsui Line stringline diagram.svg, 1985 Stringline Diagram
References
See also
*
Xindian railway line
The Hsintien line () was a Taiwanese railroad branch line, located in Taipei City and New Taipei City operated by the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA). It connected the city of Taipei with Xindian District in New Taipei.
History
The Hsintien ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tamsui Line (Tra)
Demolished buildings and structures in Taiwan
Railway lines in Taiwan
3 ft 6 in gauge railways in Taiwan
Railway lines closed in 1988
Railway lines opened in 1901
1901 establishments in Taiwan
1988 disestablishments in Taiwan
TRA routes