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Two sections of Alishan alpine railway resume service
2010/06/17 16:44:51 |
Taipei, June 17 (CNA) Two sections of the Alishan Forest Railway are scheduled to resume service June 19, which will allow more tourists to travel on one of the highest alpine railways in the world, Premier Wu Deng-yih said Thursday.
With the completion of the first-phase restoration of the railway, two sections -- the Zhushan Sunrise-Watching Line and the Divine Tree Line -- will be opened to tourists, Wu said during an Executive Yuan meeting in which Council of Agriculture (COA) officials reported on the progress of the railway reconstruction project.
Alishan was once Taiwan's most popular tourist destination, with visitors flocking to see the "Five Wonders" -- the cloud sea, the sunrise, the sunset, the mountain-climbing railway's unique "Z" switchbacks and spirals that are a marvel of engineering, and the forests through which the railway line winds, ranging from tropical to temperate and finally alpine.
The Alishan Forest Railway, however, has faced a multitude of crises after massive flooding and landslides caused by Typhoon Morakot last August damaged or washed away tracks in more than 400 places, causing the closure of the line and leading to a drastic fall in the number of visitors to the area.
At Thursday's meeting, officials from the COA's Forest Bureau said the entire 71.4-km line is expected to reopen by the end of 2011 once all three phases of railway repair are completed.
Meanwhile, Wu also exhorted the Forest Bureau to make greater efforts to ensure that the Alishan Forest Recreation Park overhaul project, including the construction of a tourist hotel in the park, will be completed by the time the railway opens again.
The Alishan scenic area is one of the top three "must sees" for tourists from China, whose numbers are growing fast, making them one of the major sources of Taiwan's tourists.
(By Hsieh Chia-chen and Deborah Kuo) ENDITEM/J
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