Rail transportation has always been a relatively important mode of transportation for all countries. It is lower than air cost, larger than road transportation, and faster than sea transportation. Any country or region with better development has a dense railway network.
The advent of the high-speed rail era has greatly improved the efficiency of railway transportation, and our major cities in China have been connected by high-speed rail lines.
National high-speed rail lines have become a dense network, crisscrossing, running through most parts of the country from north to south, from east to west. Hainan Province, an island province, has also built an island-round high-speed rail.
Compared with that, Taiwan Province has fewer high-speed rail construction, neither crisscrossing nor rounding the island. So why didn’t Taiwan Province build island-round high-speed rail like Hainan Province?
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Hainan Province in my country is an oval island. is higher in the central area of , but it is not much higher. It is generally between 500 and 800 meters above sea level. It belongs to a low-mountain hilly area, with only a few mountains above altitudes of more than 1,000 meters.
Hainan Island is relatively flat, which gives Hainan Island the basic conditions for building a high-speed railway around the island.
As a ground project, the primary problem of high-speed rail construction lies on the ground and the secondary problem lies in the sky. Therefore, during the construction process, the project only needs to deal with problems such as high temperature, high humidity, typhoon , high salt, and cumulative, which are more technically easier to solve.
High-speed rail construction
Hainan Ring Road is built in two sections. The East Ring Road section started construction on September 29, 2007. It took only three years to complete and started operation on December 30, 2010. The construction of the
West Ring section started on September 28, 2012 and started on December 30, 2015. The construction time of the two sections of railways is basically the same, and it took a total of six and a half years. Hainan Province is an island province with many ports around it. Connecting it with high-speed rail has enhanced the transportation efficiency of coastal areas, enriched the mode of transportation, and brought the transportation advantages of the entire Hainan to a new level.
Hainan Province is an economically developed province and a good place for tourism. The economic development and tourism depend on transportation. The island-round railway has "shrinked" Hainan and increased convenience.
"The terminal can also be the originating station". Such exploration is a valuable experience for the development of islands around the world.
Hainan
Let’s talk about why Taiwan Province cannot do it. The terrain of Taiwan Province is the most important limiting factor.
Taiwan Province is relatively high at an altitude, which is different from Hainan Province's middle high and four low surroundings. Taiwan Province is high in the east and low in the west. The high part in the east is not only very high in altitude, but also has a large area.
There are 81 mountains in Hainan Province with an altitude of more than 1,000 meters, and there are only a handful of mountains above 1,500 meters. There are 268 mountains in Taiwan Province that are only over 3,000 meters away. The highest peak in Taiwan Province is the main peak of Yushan, which is 3,952 meters, and is also the highest peak in eastern my country.
Taiwan Province's coastal mountain range , central mountain range , snow mountain range, Yushan mountain range , Alishan mountain range is located on the Taiwan island from east to west, greatly affecting the construction of transportation on the island. Taiwan Island is an island squeezed by plates, located between Eurasian plates, Okinawa plates and Philippines plates. Not only is the terrain complex, but also frequent earthquakes.
Island
Therefore, although they are both island provinces, there are more problems that need to be solved in the construction of high-speed rail in the eastern part of Taiwan Province than in Hainan.
Due to the limitations of the terrain, the low terrain area in the eastern part of Taiwan Province is small and not suitable for establishing more large cities. The main cities are distributed in the west, such as Taipei City, Tainan City, Kaohsiung City, Chiayi City, Hsinchu City, etc. The main population of Taiwan Province is also concentrated in the west.
Therefore, even if Taiwan Province has the ability to solve the various problems of building high-speed rail in the east, the huge cost of projects will not get enough profits.
Although Taiwan Province cannot build the high-speed rail around the island, the current traffic conditions on the island are not bad, which is enough to maintain the current development.
Taiwan Railway
Taiwan Province currently has an island-round railway, with more than 1,300 kilometers of high-speed rail in the western part of Taiwan Province, covering almost all major cities on the west coast. From Nangang, it leaves Taipei City, Banqiao City , Hsinchu City, Yunlin City, Changhua City and other cities and finally arrives at Zuoying, with a total of twelve stops.
This high-speed railway was built in 1988 and costs NT$500 billion. It mainly uses Japanese Shinkansen technology and has a maximum operating speed of 315 kilometers per hour.
In addition to this section of high-speed railway, Taiwan Province also has more than 700 kilometers of ordinary speed railway. It together with high-speed railways form the island ring railway on Taiwan Island. Although the speed is only 150 kilometers per hour, it is better than not. Besides, Taiwan Island is not large, and this speed is enough.
Taiwan Railway
In addition to the railway system, other transportation in Taiwan Province is also very convenient. As an island, there are many harbors and sea transportation is very convenient.
Airport, Taiwan Province has four international airports, including two main international airports, Taoyuan International Airport and Kaohsiung International Airport, and two secondary international airports, Taipei Songshan International Airport and Taichung Qingquangang International Airport. There are airports in each major city and some islands, and there are many flights between cities.
In addition, highways can also be used as a compensation for railway transportation, with the total length of highways and bridges in Taiwan Province reaching 47,000 kilometers.
To sum up, even if Taiwan Province does not have the conditions to build the high-speed rail on the ring road, this small province will not lag behind with so many modes of transportation.
Taiwan Railway
people are also very important
Another reason why Taiwan Province has not built a roundabout high-speed rail is people. It is the people of the Taiwan authorities that the Taiwan Province has not developed, and have been in a state of regression over the years.
Taiwan Province was once one of the four Asian dragons . The economy was developing very fast. In the past, if someone came from Hong Kong and Taiwan, he would look up to him. That was a symbol of wealth. However, in just a few decades, the development status of Taiwan Province and the mainland has completely changed.
For a country or region, being able to build a large project can improve its image and influence, and it is also a manifestation of serving the people and improving people's cohesion.
Today in mainland China, even the sparsely populated and complex terrain will allow local people to access the Internet, use electricity, and post. This is not an economic account.
Taiwan Railway
Those people in the Taiwan authorities do not have the idea of building a high-speed railway around the island, but one lacks funds and technology, and the other is that the capabilities and efficiency of those in the Taiwan authorities are too low.
Wang Guocai, head of the transportation department of Taiwan Province, advocated the construction of the island-round high-speed railway more than once, but his vision was never realized.
On October 26, 2021, Wang Guocai once again proposed the concept of "island-round high-speed rail", and Su Zhenchang and others also proposed to extend the high-speed rail. Regarding these concepts, the Taiwan Railway and Land Planning Society then issued a press release, put forward objections and expressed various reasons.
First of all, it is very difficult to construct in the mountains, and environmental issues also require communication and coordination.
As mentioned earlier, Taiwan Province only has a high-speed railway of more than 300 kilometers, and is located in a low terrain area. The operating mileage of railways in mainland China is more than 100,000 kilometers, and the operating mileage of high-speed railways is tens of thousands of kilometers. These railways are built on various complex terrains.
Railway
Whether it is construction or operation, the practical experience of Taiwan Province cannot be compared with the mainland. It has never tried to build a long-distance high-speed railway in complex terrain.
The second is the funding issue. The construction of the Eastern High-speed Railway itself is a considerable amount, even much more than this section of the Western High-speed Railway, and costs money for safety and operation.
In recent years, everyone knows where the Taiwan authorities spend their money. In order to please Lithuanian , the United States, Japan and others, the Taiwan authorities have spent a lot of money, either stuffing money for politicians or buying second-hand weapons from the United States. In short, they are spreading money for various reasons.
After the outbreak of the epidemic, due to the ineffective prevention and control of the Taiwan authorities, the number of cases in Taiwan has been increasing. This year, there have been more than 5 million confirmed cases in Taiwan, which has greatly affected the lives of Taiwanese people and the local economy. Under such a large environment, the Taiwan authorities may not be able to spend so much money to build the high-speed rail.
In the words of the Railway Society, it means "will increase the financial load, and taxpayers will still be the victims."
Railway
Railway Society believes that the construction of this high-speed rail must have proper land planning, matching the people's living and work needs, and supporting industrial development, otherwise blindly building a track system will only add to the burden.
is summarized as follows: the general environment of Taiwan Province is not good, no matter from any perspective, it is the case. It does not have the ability to build it, and it does not have the ability to use it after it is built, and it cannot exert greater value. Such a situation is caused by the Taiwan authorities.
Step back ten thousand steps, even if all objective conditions are not so bad, the Taiwan authorities cannot use resources well.
In recent years, the Taiwan authorities have basically not done anything that is beneficial to the Taiwanese people, but have made the situation worse and worse. Their main focus has not been on the construction of Taiwan Province, and they always grasp the results that are not considered to be achievements.
High-speed rail
For a long time, Taiwan's railway accidents have occurred frequently and have suffered huge losses year by year. There are many reasons for this, including lack of talents, lack of technology, chaotic management, and poor system. To say that it is a problem with Taiwan's railway, and to say that it is too big, it is the incompetence of the management of the Taiwan authorities, which leads to huge loopholes in every link.
The Taiwan authorities' high-speed rail roundabout may always be just a dream. There is only one way out for building this high-speed rail roundabout in the future, that is, return to the motherland as soon as possible.
The motherland has funds and technology and rich practical experience. It is not difficult to build a high-speed rail around Taiwan Island. Moreover, the country will improve the environment in Taiwan Province in all aspects and bring the economy of Taiwan back to a stable and upward situation.
Taiwan scenery
By then the unemployment rate is reduced and all walks of life are booming. People from all over the mainland can take a car to Taiwan to see Alishan and Sun Moon Lake .
By then, this high-speed railway will be necessary to be built and can create greater value, and the original railway system can also play a greater role.
Otherwise, not only will the high-speed rail around the island not become a dream, but as time goes by and Taiwan Province develops worse and worse, the original railway system will age, the management level will become worse and worse, and ultimately lose its value.
References
Do you agree with Taiwan’s construction of the high-speed railway in the ring road? Latest poll: Nearly 60% of the people oppose it. 2021.10.28. China Jingwei.com
