Tainan Railway underground project is coming to an end, Lai Ching-te attended the unveiling of the new station and apologized to the demolished households

After 18 years of hard work, the Tainan urban railway and train station undergrounding project has entered the final stage. The Ministry of Transportation is striving to achieve the goal of opening to traffic on October 18. This evening, President Lai Ching-te attended the unveiling ceremony of the new Tainan Station. He thanked the demolished households for their support and also wanted to say "I'm sorry" to the demolished households.

The Tainan Railway, which has been in operation for 126 years, completed the third generation of underground new stations this year. Transportation Minister Chen Shikai and Tainan Mayor Huang Weizhe said that the design of Tainan's new train station is not majestic. The purpose is to make the historic old station the visual protagonist and revitalize it. This is because the old station is not saying goodbye to the citizens, but will continue to exist and serve the people. In the future, people who take trains at Tainan Station can still enter from the old station and then enter from the new underground station.

Lai Ching-te pointed out that the Tainan Railway has brought progress and prosperity to the city in the past, but it has also brought some restrictions and obstacles. For example, the railway has divided Tainan's urban area into two, and many level crossings have affected traffic and caused many accidents. For decades, citizens have supported undergrounding. When the central government approved the plan, he was responsible for its implementation during his term as Tainan Mayor. He thanked the citizens for their support.

He changed the topic and thanked the demolition households for their support. He also admitted that several good friends who lived along the railway line were opposed and came out to fight. One of them had a house built by her husband, an architect. The house carried the feelings of the family and they could not let go. Therefore, they opposed the demolition of the house for the eastward movement of the railway. He understood and felt sad, and he also wanted to say sorry to the anti-demolition households.

Due to the opposition of some demolished households, they are worried that they will not have a house to live in in the future. Lai Qingde said that for this purpose, he found a piece of land in the East District and invited Fuli Construction to build a care home. He had visited the relocated households and expressed his satisfaction with living in this care residence. He also wanted to thank Fuli Construction.

Lai Ching-te also said that in the future, the original surface railway will be opened into a 30-meter-wide greenway, which will become an important vertical leisure park for citizens. In addition, he hopes that the future mayor and city council of Tainan will support the undergroundization of the Yongkang section of the railway and the promotion of the three-dimensional elevated section of the Xinshi and Shanhua sections, so that the Taiwan Railway will become the backbone of vertical MRT in Greater Tainan, and will connect other lines of light rail MRT in the future, making Tainan's rail transportation more complete.