Train services on the Eastern Trunk Line of Taiwan’s railway network will partially resume on Thursday, after the railway infrastructure was severely damaged by a series of earthquakes that struck Hualien and Taitung counties over the weekend, the state-run train operator said.
According to Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA), 38 services are scheduled between Hualien Station and Fenglin to the south, while 32 services are planned between Taitung Station and Fuli, which is in southern Hualien, near the county border with Taitung, on Thursday.
On average, passengers can expect a train service every 50 minutes to 1 hour, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., the TRA said in a statement released on Wednesday.
With train services extended to Fenglin and Fuli, the suspended section of the main railway in eastern Taiwan will be reduced from nearly 106 kilometers to around 70 km, according to the TRA.
Services between Hualien and Taitung have been suspended since Sunday, when a series of earthquakes struck northern Taitung and southern Hualien, causing damage to overhead power lines, tracks, several railway bridges, as well as equipment, the TRA statement said.
The strongest earthquake Sunday, measuring a magnitude 6.8 on the Richter scale, struck Taitung’s Chishang Township at 2:44 p.m., after a magnitude 6.4 temblor in the nearby township of Guanshan the previous night, according to the Central Weather Bureau.
Meanwhile, replacement bus services first used on Sunday afternoon will continue to run between Hualien and Yuli stations, as well as Yuli and Taitung stations, the TRA said.
Nine stations in the southern part of Hualien, including Yuli, will remained closed, with the TRA adding that it aims to bring back train services further south from Fenglin to Yuli by the end of September, reducing the suspended section of track to about 18 kilometers.
However, it will take six months to resume normal service, as a result of serious damage to a railway bridge across the Siouguluan River in Hualien, according to the TRA.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel