SHIFT:Opponents said that the city government has not provided sufficient evidence as to why land in the east of Tainan is needed for railway tunneling

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 28, 2016
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter

The Ministry of the Interior’s Construction and Planning Agency yesterday delayed deliberations on moving railway lines in Tainan underground following contentious talks with residents and environmental groups.

Officials in the agency’s group working on the project made a motion to require the Tainan City Government to provide a further response to activists’ concerns following a marathon meeting, punctuated by occasional shouting and table pounding.

Their decision to delay a decision on the project until a third meeting represented a partial victory for activists, who had vowed to stop the plan’s passage.

While moving the railway underground has been discussed for decades, the latest round of controversy concerns city plans to shift the line eastward to facilitate tunneling efforts, appropriating land from several hundred residents.     [FULL  STORY]