Taiwan Today
Date: May 10, 2016
Taiwan Railways Administration under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and the
TRA Director-General Chou Yung-hui (right) and MGB Chief Executive Officer Fernando Lehner exchange gifts during the memorandums signing ceremony May 6 in Taipei City. (CNA)
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. [FULL STORY]
