Taiwan, Switzerland ink railway collaboration pacts

2016/05/11

Taiwan Railways Administration under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and the Forestry Bureau under the Council of Agriculture concluded two memorandums of understanding with Swiss railway operator Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn May 6 in Taipei City, paving the way for bilateral collaboration spanning a broad spectrum of areas.

Signed respectively by TRA Director-General Chou Yung-hui, bureau Director-General Lee Tao-sheng and MGB Chief Executive Officer Fernando Lehner, the memorandums establish sister relations between Taiwan’s iconic Alishan Forest Railway and MGB, along with its subsidiary Gornergrat Bahn.

In a ceremony held at TRA Taipei Station, Premier Chang San-cheng praised Alishan railway and MGB for spurring economic growth while contributing to environmental protection. “It’s a perfect match of two world-class railways,” Chang said, adding that he expects the partnerships to enhance people-to-people exchanges and promote tourism in Asia and Europe.

Under the TRA-MGB memorandum, the two organizations will exchange information and share experiences in business operations, development strategies and talent cultivation, as well as jointly organize marketing campaigns and projects of mutual interest. The bureau-MGB memorandum covers many of the same areas, in addition to major station and website promotions.

Constructed as the highest narrow-gauge railway in Asia in 1912 during the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945), the 78-kilometer Alishan line runs through the scenic mountain resort of Alishan in southern Taiwan’s Chiayi County.

The railway is famous for its spiral route and zigzag switchbacks. During an ascent from 30 meters to 2,451 meters above sea level, the vegetation changes from tropical to temperate and alpine, making it one of Taiwan’s most popular tourist attractions.

MGB operates the famous Glacier Express that runs through the scenic Swiss Alps. The more than 100-year-old Gornergrat Bahn is a mountain track railway linking the resort village of Zermatt in southern Switzerland to the summit of the Gornergrat, the best location to view the 4,478 meter-high Matterhorn.

TRA is working to promote Taiwan’s railways around the world through overseas exchange programs. The latest memorandums follow Alishan line’s two pacts with Japan’s Oigawa Railway in 1986 and Kurobe Gorge Railway in 2013.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=244521&ctNode=2194&mp=9)