National Taiwan Museum - Railway Department Park Introduction
The National Historic Site of the Taiwan Governor-General's Railway Department is located between Zhongxiao West Road, Tacheng Street, Zhengzhou Road, and Yanping North Road, under the jurisdiction of the state-owned Taiwan Railway Co. In 1885, Liu Ming-chuan, the Governor of Taiwan, invited British and German advisors to build a machinery bureau at the Tamsui River Wharf, assembling weapons, ammunition, and minting currency. The facility included a smelting workshop and a smithy. In 1895, the Japanese military took over the machinery bureau and renamed it the Taipei Armory Repair Facility, manufacturing and repairing military armaments, including projectiles, fuses, rifles, and artillery, as well as shipbuilding and railway iron bridges. Later, it was renamed the Taiwan Artillery Factory and was transferred to the Railway Department by the Army Ministry in 1900, becoming the Taipei Factory the same year. With the opening of the Western Cross-Island Railway in 1908, the demand for railway transportation and vehicle maintenance surged, leading to the eastward expansion of the Taipei Factory in 1909, which included the construction of vehicle repair and painting workshops. Starting in 1915, the original buildings on the southern side of the site were demolished, and in 1918, a new Railway Department building was constructed. This site included both the southern building and the northern factory configuration until the Taipei Factory relocated to Songshan (now the National Historic Site of the Taipei Machinery Factory) in 1934. Originally, nearly forty buildings existed within the block, but due to the construction of the MRT in 2005 and the restoration demolition in 2013, only ten remain, including eight designated cultural assets: the Railway Department, canteen, octagonal men's restroom, power room, engineering room, wartime command center, remnants of the Qing machinery bureau, and the Taipei Factory (which is not within the Railway Department site). After the war, the Railway Department was renamed the Taiwan Railway Administration. In 1967, urban planning cut Tacheng Street, severing the connection to the officer's quarters on the west side, resulting in the current streetscape. In 1992, the Taipei City Government designated the Railway Department building as a Level 3 historic site, and in 1993, the Taiwan Railway Administration moved to a new location in Taipei Station. In 2005, the Council for Cultural Affairs commissioned Tunghai University and Chung Yuan Christian University to conduct historic site research and reuse planning. In 2006, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications signed a memorandum of understanding with the Taiwan Railway Administration, the Council for Cultural Affairs, and the National Taiwan Museum to officially start the restoration and reuse of the Railway Department historic site. The plan is based on the concept of the "Railway Department Museum Park," aiming to establish a multifunctional park with modern thematic displays, integrating urban and historical elements. In 2007, it was designated as a National Historic Site, including the octagonal building, canteen, power room, engineering room, and wartime command center within the historic site. The Taipei Factory and the Qing-era machinery bureau site were designated as municipal historic sites by Taipei City in 2008 and 2010, respectively. Since 2009, the National Taiwan Museum has managed the land and buildings in this area. The planned Railway Museum will primarily focus on themes related to the historic site and base, railway culture, and modernity, with future integration of the E1E2 block within the former machinery bureau factory area. (Source: National Taiwan Museum)
