Tamsui Line (Taipei Metro)
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The Tamsui line or Damtsui line () was a railroad
branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...
located in the cities of
Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...
and
New Taipei New Taipei City is a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality located in regions of Taiwan, northern Taiwan. The city is home to an estimated population of 4,004,367 as of January 2023, making it the most populous city in Taiwan, a ...
operated by the
Taiwan Railways Administration Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) was a governmental agency in Taiwan which operated Taiwan Railway from 1948 to 2023. It managed, maintained, and operated conventional passenger and freight Rail transport, railway services on of track. Pa ...
(TRA). It connected the city of Taipei with the town of
Tamsui Tamsui District () is a seaside district in New Taipei City, Taiwan adjacent to the Tamsui River and overlooking the Taiwan Strait. The name of the district means "fresh water" in Chinese. Although modest in size (population 189,271), Tamsui ...
. The route is currently served by the
Tamsui–Xinyi line The Tamsui–Xinyi or Red line (code R) is a metro line in Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth ...
on the
Taipei Metro Taipei Metro (also known as Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and branded as Metro Taipei) is a rapid transit system operated by the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation serving the capital Taipei and New Taipei City in Taiwan. It was the first rapi ...
.


History

After Japan gradually occupied Taiwan in 1895 (during Japanese rule), the main transportation port was still the Port of Damtsui. Traditionally, materials were transported from Damtsui Port "upriver" in small canoes. To improve the surface transport capacity from Damtsui Port to Taihoku and the rest of Taiwan, the Ministry of Railways in the Taiwan Directorate-General arranged to utilize the railway materials reclaimed from the reconstruction of the Taihoku-Shinchiku segment of the Ching-dynasty West Coast Main Line to survey and layout a railway line along the east bank of the Damtsui river. This became known as the Damtsui Line. The construction cost of the Damtsui Line was much less than the original plan, costing only 720,000 yen. This line was also used to transport new railway construction materials imported from Japan, and ballast stone from a quarry near Shirin. The Tamsui Line officially opened on 25 August 1901, with five stations (see initial timetable below). Eventually a total of 17 stations were operational, two of which (
Dadaocheng Dadaocheng is an area in Datong District, Taipei, Taiwan. It was also known as Twatutia (a transliteration of the Taiwanese Hokkien ''Tuā-tiū-tiânn''), Daitōtei during Japanese rule, and Tataocheng (Mandarin) during the Kuomintang era. ...
, Beimen), located south of
Taipei Railway Station Taipei Main Station () is a major metro and railway station in the capital Taipei, Taiwan. It is served by Taipei Metro, the Taiwan High Speed Rail, and Taiwan Railway. It is also connected through underground passageways to the terminal sta ...
were closed to passenger traffic by 1916 and 1923 respectively (the former station, located on a branch, continued to be used by freight trains until 1937). Changan and
Jiantan Station Jiantan (, formerly transliterated as Chientan Station until 2003) is a metro station in Taipei, Taiwan served by Taipei Metro. There was a station of the same name on the now-defunct Tamsui railway line, however the position was different; the ...
s were shut down in 1950. In 1954 a temporary Fuxinggang Station was built for the 9th annual Taiwan Province Games, which closed after the games ended. A spur track known as the located before Tamsui Station provided access to the British Merchant Warehouse operated (until 1945) by Rising Sun Petroleum, and after that by
Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...
, which was closed in 1971 and the surviving track was heritage-listed along with the British Merchant Warehouse in 2000. In addition,
Tatung Company Tatung Company () is a multinational corporation established in 1918 and headquartered in Zhongshan, Taipei, Taiwan. Established in 1918 and headquartered in Taipei, Tatung Company holds 3 business groups, which includes 8 business units: Indus ...
had a freight siding located between Shuanglian and Yuanshan Stations, which was originally built during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, finally opened on 7 October 1946 and closed on 1 March 1980. Another spur line, the , opened in 1916 to provide easier access to the Beitou
Hot Spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...
s. The Tamsui Line and Hsin Peitou Line were formally closed on 15 July 1988, however, the Taiwan Railway Administration ran the route once more the next day. The Tamsui and Hsin Peitou lines was later demolished to make way for the
Taipei Metro Taipei Metro (also known as Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and branded as Metro Taipei) is a rapid transit system operated by the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation serving the capital Taipei and New Taipei City in Taiwan. It was the first rapi ...
Tamsui Line The Tamsui line or Damtsui line () was a railroad branch line located in the cities of Taipei and New Taipei operated by the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA). It connected the city of Taipei with the town of Tamsui. The route is currently ser ...
and Xinbeitou branch line, which currently operates along a route similar to the original TRA route.


Infrastructure

The Tamsui line was a single track line with passing sidings at most stations. Sidings range from just over 1 mile apart to the maximum distance between Zhuwei and Tamsui which was a 2.6-mile segment. Because of the limited capacity, the maximum operable headway was every half-hour. Passing sidings that allows trains to pass each other on the single track were located in: Shuanglien, Yuanshan, Shihlin, Peitou, and Chuwei. Service north of Peitou was more intensive. The entire line was token-worked; tokens (staff) must be exchanged at most stations for onwards movement authority. Trains taking about 45 minutes to travel end-to-end sometimes had to meet as many as four trains travelling in the opposite direction.


Route Characteristics

* Operating jurisdiction: Taiwan Railway Administration * Route distance: 21.2 km between Taipei and Tamsui * Gauge: 1,067 mm * Number of stations: 11 (when line was abandoned, including both termini) * Opened: 25 August 1901 ** 1916: Tataocheng Station was converted to a freight-only station, southern terminus was moved to North Gate Station ** 2 March 1923: North Gate Station was abolished, southern terminus was moved to Taipei Main Station ** 1937: segment between Tataocheng Freight Station and Taipei Main Station was officially abandoned * Abolition: 15 July 1988 was the last day of operations; line was formally abandoned the following day, on July 16 * Taiwan's first railway branch line to be connected to the trunk line network * Taiwan's first railway branch line to be converted to a mass rapid transit line


Vehicle Assignment

The regular train was hauled by R0 or R20 class diesel-electric locomotive, typically with four ordinary non-air-conditioned coaches. In the 1960s through the 1970s, S200, S300, and S400 class diesel electric locomotives commonly hauled short commuter trains on the Tamsui Line. After the project to convert East Coast Main Line to 1,067 mm gauge (from an earlier ~800 mm narrow gauge), the displaced diesel-hydraulic locomotive DH200 class was converted for a period of service on the Tamsui line. The last train was hauled by R20-class locomotive R53, with extra passenger cars attached.


Passenger Timetables

File:台灣日日新報交通便覽.jpg, 25 October 1901 public schedule in the Taiwan Daily New News File:DamtsuiLine1967.png, 1967 Passenger Schedule File:DamtsuiLine1984.jpg, January 1984 Timetable File:Damtsui Line 1985 07.png, July 1985 Timetable File:TRA Damtsui Line stringline diagram.svg, 1985 Stringline Diagram


References


See also

*
Xindian railway line The Hsintien line () was a Taiwanese railroad branch line, located in Taipei City and New Taipei City operated by the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA). It connected the city of Taipei with Xindian District in New Taipei. History The Hsint ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tamsui Line (Tra) Demolished buildings and structures in Taiwan Railway lines in Taiwan 3 ft 6 in gauge railways in Taiwan Railway lines closed in 1988 Railway lines opened in 1901 1901 establishments in Taiwan 1988 disestablishments in Taiwan TRA routes