Lai Ching-te thanks residents again for making Southern Railway underground open to traffic

Demolition and resistance have gone through 16 years of ups and downs

The Tainan urban railway underground was officially opened to traffic yesterday. This major transportation construction is crucial to the development of the old city of Tainan. In order to overcome the problem that the platform of the historic Tainan Station could not be demolished, the Executive Yuan approved the eastward shift of the route. This triggered fierce protests by the demolished households along the line. The then mayor of Tainan, President Lai Ching-de, once said that it was "the biggest difficulty he has faced since he entered politics." At the opening ceremony the night before, Lai Ching-de once again apologized to the residents who had been demolished along the railway line and thanked them for their understanding and understanding.

Members of the anti-forced eviction movement knelt down, cried and begged for mercy. The mayor visited one by one during his tenure to resolve differences.

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In order to persuade the demolished households along the route to move eastward, Lai Qingde held multiple briefing meetings in the East and North Districts of Tainan. He also commissioned developers to build high-quality and low-cost nursing homes next to the production road in the East District to provide low-cost housing for the demolished households. He emphasized that the old railway above ground would not be used for commercial development, but the demolished households still encountered self-rescue groups to protest.

At that time, anti-forced eviction scholars and student groups also joined the protest. Protesters knelt down and cried bitterly. The fierce confrontation during the process made Lai Qingde express his inner thoughts about facing the biggest administrative difficulty since he entered politics.

Lai Qingde also said that he visited the demolition households one by one and actively resolved differences. Later, the demolished households, who had served as the self-rescue committee president, decided to accept the move to residential care and quit the protest. However, a small number of demolished households continued to resist, forcing the Nancheng City Government to use police force to forcibly evict them one by one in order to clear the resistance along the line, demolish the demolished households, and start the long-delayed underground project.

In fact, as early as 1991, the central government began to conduct a feasibility study on the underground project of the Southern Railway. In 2009, the Executive Yuan approved the planning report and the project was launched. According to information from the Railway Bureau of the Ministry of Transport, the urban plan changes for this project were finalized in 2016 and construction began in 2017. The entire line is 8. After more than nine years of construction and a cost of more than 41.2 billion yuan, the 23-kilometer section was completed this year and reached the first phase of opening to traffic on October 17.

Suturing a city divided by railways, Tainan’s new and old stations are integrated for the first time

The undergroundization of the Southern Railway means bidding farewell to the past history of surface railways dividing urban areas, and welcoming the suture of the old city and the modernization of the city appearance. The new Tainan underground station is designed with the concept of low and humble, giving way to the old station that is a century-old national monument in front of it. The new station also plans catering, light food and exhibition venues to create a new image of a city gateway.

The new and old stations in Tainan are connected by a sunken plaza, creating the first "integration of old and new" stations in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period. Urban underground route 8. For 23 kilometers, nine level crossings, eight vehicle and pedestrian underpasses, four vehicle carriageways, pedestrian overland bridges, and two railway bridges and culverts will be eliminated to connect urban traffic. The Railway Bureau expects to dismantle these crossing facilities in the next two years, and the old surface railway line will be built into a green parkway for people to rest.