By MOOK Travel & Lifestyle Network’s Li Xinyi, compiled and reported
In response to the need for more convenient urban transportation within the Greater Hsinchu area, the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) completed the connection between Hsinchu Station and the High-Speed Rail Liujia Station on November 11, 2011 (100 year of the ROC calendar). Following this, efforts continued to upgrade railway facilities on the Neiwan Line. These upgrades included renovating aging station buildings and improving the signaling system to enhance operational efficiency. After stability testing of the automated signaling system from late October 2012, the automated signaling system was officially put into use yesterday (the 13th), marking the complete retirement of the 50-year-old mechanical semaphore signals on the Neiwan Line.
The mechanical semaphore signals on the Taiwan Railways Neiwan Line will soon be a thing of the past. (Photo provided by Taiwan Railways Administration)
Mechanical semaphore signals once played a pivotal role in railway safety throughout history. With advances in technology and increasing train frequency, they have gradually disappeared from modern railway operations. In the future, TRA plans to preserve these retired railway workhorses in regional railway museums, allowing nostalgic travelers and rail enthusiasts to revisit railway heritage.
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With the automation of Taiwan Railways, some old facilities will also gradually fade into history. (Photo provided by Taiwan Railways Administration)