r/interestingasfuck • u/cocoreupload • 12h ago
People giving the last train in Tainan, Taiwan a grand send-off after 126 years of service, before the railway goes underground
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u/SignFar4026 12h ago
126 years of service????
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u/cocoreupload 12h ago
Yes, the train station and the whole train service above ground! (not the exact train in the video haha sorry if it's not clear enough!
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u/noobyeclipse 11h ago
how recent is this development? ive been to that station multiple times in the last couple months and had no idea such a big change was happening.
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u/cocoreupload 11h ago
Just yesterday! The new underground station begins its operation today! :D
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u/LunaticOstrich 8h ago
I’m traveling from Alishan to Tainan tomorrow. I don’t know if I should be sad that I just missed this, or excited to be one of the first to ride the new track😅
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u/CanInTW 10h ago
The construction has been going on for around a decade. Several new stations are built into the tunnel.
Similar programmes already completed in Taipei and Kaohsiung - as well as an elevated version in Taichung.
Taiwan’s always incrementally improving things. It’s so nice to live here and see progress each year - be it redesigned streetscapes (which still need a lot of work!), a new MRT line, or projects like this one.
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u/This_was_hard_to_do 2h ago
Same I’ve taken the HSR to Tainan a couple times in the past year and I had no idea!
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u/Zealousideal_Pie8706 10h ago
It’s clear what you mean but people are just stupid or being smart asses.
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u/AlternativePea6203 12h ago
Why does it have to go underground? Is China monitoring it? Will you have to get a secret password to use it? Will you have to meet Scarface Syd in a sketchy bar to buy a ticket??
So many questions.
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u/cocoreupload 12h ago
It's going underground basically for traffic convenience and city improvements! And nope, nope, nope! :D
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u/moisturized69tatas 12h ago
Damn the Taiwanese were advanced as fuck this train disent look older then 30 years, cant believe its been in service for 126 years.
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u/cocoreupload 11h ago
Not the trains haha, the station and the railway! There are a lot of trains in use (new and old ones!) Also sorry if my title is not clear enough!
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u/Ap_Sona_Bot 10h ago
Sad I hadn't heard about this! It would've been a great excuse to take the trip down from Taipei I've been putting off. I spend many a 5 am drunk off my ass at that station waiting for the first train of the day.
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u/General-Sloth 11h ago
This title is a train wreck
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u/Rs90 11h ago
Title is fine. These comments are a train wreck. Dumb as rocks.
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u/kobewagyubeans 11h ago
A normal person would have read "giving the last train a grand send-off" as it is
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u/SentimentalYogurt 10h ago
OP may not have English as their first language. Probably didn't consider the idiom and meant it literally going underground
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u/kobewagyubeans 10h ago
I think it's the 126 years of service that threw most of us off, looking at a pretty modern looking train. But I didn't believe the train was actually 126 years old. Just a weird brain shart before getting additional context
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u/cocoreupload 10h ago
Yeah I messed up the title lol, the 126 years is not about the train but instead the station and the railway system, apologies to everyone btw!
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u/goose_gladwell 12h ago
Pretty cool🖤
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u/cocoreupload 11h ago
Yoooo so glad to hear that! This is a historical moment! :D
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u/goose_gladwell 8h ago
I wish we had passenger trains near me, they are so smart and more reliable, faster etc:)
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u/AdrianDiesOften 9h ago
I hope they repurpose the old station and platforms into museums or themed cafes like how Taichung handled it.
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u/Dennis114-01 5h ago
I didn’t see the last train but was there a few hours earlier. It was already very crowded, you could see the connection the people of Tainan had with the station.
Happy to hear they create a long park. I was worried they would use it for parking space.
In Taoyuan (just under Taipei) they created a lovely bike track on the old railway.
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u/BlunanNation 11h ago
What is happening to the Taiwan railways? This title is a mess
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u/thethreestrikes 10h ago
The Tainan Station is being modernized and moved underground, like in other major Taiwan cities. That is the last train leaving the above ground station before it closes forever, so people are saying goodbye to the station that's been operating since Taiwan was Japan.
Wish I could've been there, pretty sad actually, but I'm out of the country at the moment.
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u/BlunanNation 10h ago
Ah this makes sense, I assume Tainan is an incredibly dense urban area and moving the station underground will be to make space for more urban development?
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u/a1readyt4ken 9h ago
By "incredibly dense" are you picturing a megacity kind of thing? if so, no, Taiwan is not that heavily populated so the cities, even the capital city, Taipei, is quite open and has a good amount of urban greenery, parks, and neighbourhood gardens/mini-parks. Tainan has about 1.8 million people so it's not a huge city but it is the oldest city in Taiwan and has a lot of pretty cool history.
I'm not certain what the plan is in Tainan, but other cities here that have moved their rail systems underground have turned the spaces into linear parks and I'm pretty sure that is also going to happen in Tainan.
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u/Thick-Acadia-6785 8h ago
it has 24 million people in a place the size of Maryland. over half the island is sparsly populated because of the mountains.
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u/AdrianDiesOften 9h ago
Tainan is kinda like Kyoto; it was the old capital. It was the first frontier to be developed.
It's way past its prime, but a lot of people still live there, and they pride themselves on being the cultural center of Taiwan.It's not a mega city by any means, but it's a modest city with very good public services.
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u/This-Clue-5014 10h ago
The railway in this video is being replaced by an underground one I believe
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u/Dreamwaltzer 10h ago
I mean, op has clarified he is refering to the train station rather than the trains. The context has been provided.
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u/cocoreupload 10h ago
Sorry I messed up the title lol, they're moving the railway to the underground! (thank you to everyone that also provided context!)
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u/carozza1 11h ago
Trains didn't look like that 126 years ago. Do you mean 12 years?
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u/cocoreupload 11h ago
Not the trains, the railway and the station! Sorry that my title isn't clear enough
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u/abgry_krakow87 10h ago
Unlike the USA, other countries periodically upgrade and update their railroads and train fleets with new equipment rather than dismantling them.
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u/CanInTW 10h ago edited 10h ago
For context… Taiwanese cities are burying or elevating their railroads to remove crossings and return the rail rights of way to public spaces. Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung have completed these projects already. Taoyuan is building an even longer underground section with more new stations and Chiayi is building an elevated version.
Tainan is the latest to complete - after about a decade of construction. The crowd here is waving off the last at grade/above ground train to pass through the city. As of today, all trains through Tainan are running underground through a new 8km tunnel with two new stations in addition to the rebuilt Tainan main station. The former tracks will become a linear park - as they have in Kaohsiung as well.
Come visit! Taiwan is pretty great 😊