President Tsai Ing-wen (right) inspected TRA Dongli Station. When Minister of Transportation Wang Guocai (left) pointed out that the connecting mileage of Huadong Line-type trains will be shortened from 150 kilometers to 19 kilometers, he expressed his affirmation with a "shortened" gesture in his right hand.

(Photo by reporter Hua Mengjing)

[Reporter Hua Mengjing / Hualien Report] Due to the earthquake's track setback and serious bridge damage, the Hualian East Line of the Taiwan Railway has been suspended for 150.8 kilometers between Hualien and Taitung. The rookie inspected the Dongli Station next to the Guluanxi Bridge and asked the Ministry of Communications to form an expert evaluation team to speed up the repair.

Transportation Minister Wang Cai said that before the end of the month, the train-like connection will be shortened from Hualien to Taitung, shortened to only 18.8 kilometers between Yuli and Fuli, which will be seamless.

President Tsai Ing-wen went to Hualien today to investigate the disaster. He participated in the National Disaster Prevention Day drill in the morning, inspected the restoration progress of Yuxing Bridge in Yuli Town and National Yuli High School in the afternoon, and visited Dongli Station, which was the most damaged.

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Minister of Communications Wang Guocai reported that the repair progress of the Huadong Line was ahead of schedule. The earthquake caused a total of 11 tracks on the Huadong Line to buckle. It is expected that the track will return to normal on the 25th. Previously, technicians assessed that 3 bridges on the Huadong Line were seriously damaged. Among them, Wanlixi Bridge, The Kecheng No. 2 bridge will take at least one month to repair, and the current progress is ahead of schedule, and it is expected to be completed by the end of the month.

Wang Guocai pointed out that the restoration of the Huadong Line will be carried out from both Hualien and Taitung to the direction of the most damaged rookie Guluanxi Bridge to the north of Dongli Station in Fuli Township. At the end of the month, it will be repaired from the north to Yuli and from the south to the north to Fuli, and stop. The driving section will be shortened from the current 150.8 km between Hualien and Taitung to 18.8 km between Yuli and Fuli, which means that the section that needs to be connected by train will become a short-distance connection. It will be seamless between Yuli Station and Fuli Station. ; In addition, from today onwards, there will be a train between Hualien Yuli and Taitung, and there will be a train every half an hour, and additional trains and direct trains will be opened according to the number of passengers.

Wang Guocai said that the rookie Guluanxi Bridge, which was severely damaged by the disaster, was moved laterally by about 1 meter due to the superstructure of the bridge. The repair technicians estimated that the emergency repair would take 6 months. The team of the General Administration of Highways will investigate, hoping to seize the time to restore traffic as soon as possible.

Tsai Ing-wen said that the magnitude of the 6.8 earthquake was not only more serious than the outside world had imagined, but just now she went to Yuli High School and found that the school building was full of cracks. "The school is where we are most worried and concerned." and civil technicians will conduct surveys, hoping that the disaster damage assessment and inspection can be more thorough, comprehensive and in-depth.

She also believes that the earthquake "shocked quite a number of problems", such as the agricultural roads in Chike Mountain and Sixty Stone Mountain, which will take a little longer to deal with fundamentally.

President Tsai also thanked Taiwan Railways, the Railway Bureau, the police, and construction companies for their joint efforts in emergency repairs, which made the repair schedule ahead of schedule. By the end of the month, the unpassable section of the railway will be reduced to 18.8 kilometers.

She said that the repair of the Xiuguluanxi Bridge is indeed a challenge. We hope that the Ministry of Communications will organize a technical team to fully assist the Taiwan Railway Bureau in completing the bridge structure identification and analysis, propose a follow-up repair plan, and provide more direct trains connected by trains. , no matter how much resources are invested, let's work together.

Let the people return to normal life as soon as possible.

The track on the north side of the Moon at Dongli Station was bent, and further north was the rookie Guluanxi Bridge. As many as 40 telephone poles in this section were broken and skewed, tearing the tram lines.

(Photo by reporter Hua Mengjing)

Hualien County Mayor Xu Zhenwei and legislator Fu Kunqi reported to the President the disaster damage to the Hualien school, and hoped that there would be more direct trains of the same type and more frequent commuting during peak hours.

(Photo by reporter Hua Mengjing)

The rookie Guluanxi Bridge on the north side of Dongli Station on the Huadong Line was seriously damaged.

(Photo by reporter Hua Mengjing)

President Tsai Ing-wen visited the Huadong disaster area today and learned about the damage and restoration progress of the Yuxing Bridge on the Taiwan-Ninth Line.

(Photo by reporter Hua Mengjing)

The most severely damaged rookie Guluanxi Bridge on the Huadong Line of Taiwan Railway is located on the north side of Dongli Station. The abutment is raised by 50 cm, the piers are raised, the bridge is displaced by 60 to 70 cm, and 40 poles are broken.

(Photo by reporter Hua Mengjing)

The abutment and piers of the Guluanxi Bridge, a rookie on the Tiehua East Line, were uplifted, and as many as 40 tram lines and poles were crooked and broken.

(Photo by reporter Hua Mengjing)

The Guluanxi Bridge, a rookie on the Huadong Line, was the most severely damaged by the 918 earthquake. The broken telephone poles and their bases were broken and fell into the riverbed and rice fields.

(Photo by reporter Hua Mengjing)