National Taiwan Museum - Railway Department Park Introduction
The National Historic Site, the Taiwan Governor-General's Railway Bureau, is located between Zhongxiao West Road, Tacheng Street, Zhengzhou Road, and Yanping North Road, and is managed by the Taiwan Railway Administration. In 1885, Liu Ming-chuan, the governor of Taiwan, invited consultants from the UK and Germany to build the machinery bureau at the Tamsui River Wharf to assemble arms, ammunition, and coinage, which included a foundry and a forge. In 1895, the Japanese military took over the machinery bureau, changing its name to the Taipei Armory, which manufactured and repaired weapons under the Army’s jurisdiction, capable of producing projectiles, fuses, small arms, and munitions, as well as shipbuilding and railway iron bridges. It was later renamed the Taiwan Artillery Factory, and in 1900, it was handed over to the Railway Bureau by the Army Ministry, becoming the Taipei Factory in the same year. The Western Trunk Line of Taiwan opened in 1908, greatly increasing railway traffic and demand for vehicle repairs. In 1909, the Taipei Factory expanded eastward, building new vehicle repair and painting shops. Starting in 1915, original buildings on the southern side of the base were demolished, and a new Railway Bureau office was built in 1918, coexisting with the Taipei Factory, resulting in the configuration of the southern office and northern workshop, until the Taipei Factory moved to Songshan (now the National Historic Site, Taipei Machinery Factory) in 1934. There were nearly forty buildings within the original urban outline. Following the construction of the MRT in 2005 and the demolition of unpreserved elements during the 2013 restoration, ten buildings remain, including eight designated cultural heritage sites: the Railway Bureau, the cafeteria, the octagonal men's restroom, the power room, the workroom, the wartime command center, the ruins of the machinery bureau from the Qing Dynasty, and the Taipei Factory (which is outside the Railway Bureau park). After the war, the Railway Bureau was transformed into the Taiwan Railway Management Bureau. Due to urban planning, Tacheng Street was completed in 1967, severing the connection with the official residence area on the west side, forming the street layout seen today. In 1992, the Taipei City Government designated the Railway Bureau office as a third-class historic monument, and in 1993, the headquarters of the Taiwan Railway was relocated to the new building at Taipei Railway Station. In 2005, the National Cultural and Arts Foundation commissioned Tunghai University and Chung Yuan Christian University to conduct a historic site survey and reuse planning. In 2006, the Ministry of Transportation, the Taiwan Railway Administration, the National Cultural and Arts Foundation, and the National Taiwan Museum signed an agreement to form the Taiwan Museum System Alliance, officially beginning the restoration and reuse of the Railway Bureau historic site. The foundational concept of the "Railway Bureau Museum Park" aims to create a multifunctional area with modern display themes that integrates urban and historical contexts. In 2007, it was designated a national historic site by the National Cultural and Arts Foundation, including the octagonal building, cafeteria, power room, workroom, and wartime command center within the historic site's scope. The Taipei Factory and the remains of the Qing Dynasty machinery bureau were respectively designated as municipal historic sites by Taipei City in 2008 and 2010. Since 2009, this area of land and buildings has been managed by the National Taiwan Museum. The proposed theme of the railway museum will mainly focus on topics related to the historic site and base, railway culture, and modernity, and will also involve integrating the building range of the original machinery bureau factory area on the west side. (Source: National Taiwan Museum)
