The “Taiwan Lantern Festival” enters its final two days — Taiwan Railways runs trains every 6 minutes to transport one million visitors

▲The final two days of the Taiwan Lantern Festival are expected to draw another million visitors again. (Photo / Reporter Chen Ruizhong)

Tourism Center / Comprehensive Report

As the Taiwan Lantern Festival enters its last weekend, the Taichung City Government estimates that one million people will flock to the Wuri Lantern Area. To avoid a repeat of the overcrowding at the TRA Xinwuri Station on the 7th, the city government has prepared a transportation plan for this weekend based on an expected daily visitor count of 1.8 million.

The Taichung City Transportation Bureau pointed out that three shuttle bus stops have been set up along Longfu Road. From 10:00 AM to midnight, visitors can park their vehicles and take free shuttle buses to enter the lantern area, which is expected to alleviate traffic congestion at the P4 parking lot (the intersection of Wuchang West Road Section 2 and Xiangshang Road Section 3).

To make transportation more convenient for residents in the coastal areas, the Taichung City Transportation Bureau has increased shuttle buses at Tianbo Mansion in Longjing, and Taiwan Railways has responded by adding extra train cars. Su Chen-lin, head of the Taichung Operations Section of the Taiwan Railways Administration, stated that in response to the potential influx of visitors to the Wuri Lantern Area of the Taiwan Lantern Festival this weekend, trains heading southbound and northbound will run approximately every 6 minutes, with each train capable of transporting over 1,000 passengers.

In addition, 52 train services will be expanded from the original 4-car formation to 8-car formation, doubling capacity. Another 24 Tzu-Chiang Limited Express services will also include additional stops at Xinwuri Station. If another surge in visitors occurs, a shuttle bus plan will be activated to transport passengers to Taichung Railway Station.

Su Chen-lin urges the public to purchase round-trip train tickets directly, which not only saves time on purchasing return tickets but also entitles them to a 10% discount on the fare. He also asks the public to cooperate with the guidance of on-site volunteers and police, and not to linger at Exit 3 of TRA, so as to avoid blocking the exit and causing further congestion. (News source: Central News Agency)