National Taiwan Museum - Railway Department Park Introduction
The National Historic Site of the Taiwan Governor-General's Railway Bureau is located between Zhongxiao West Road, Tacheng Street, Zhengzhou Road, and Yanping North Road, under the jurisdiction of the state-owned Taiwan Railways Administration. In 1885, Liu Ming-chuan, the Governor of Taiwan, invited British and German consultants to build a machinery bureau at the Tamsui River dock to assemble firearms and ammunition and mint currency, which included foundries and workshops. In 1895, the Japanese military took over the machinery bureau, renaming it the Taipei Arsenal, which manufactured and repaired weapons under the army’s authority, including projectiles, fuses, small arms ammo, propellants, ships, and railway iron bridges. It was later renamed the Taiwan Artillery Factory, and in 1900, it was transferred from the Ministry of the Army to the Railway Bureau, and that same year it became known as the Taipei Works. With the opening of the Western Trunk Line in 1908, railway traffic volume and vehicle maintenance demands increased significantly. In 1909, the Taipei Works expanded eastward, constructing new vehicle repair and painting workshops. From 1915, buildings on the southern side of the base were demolished, and in 1918, a new Railway Bureau office was built, coexisting with the Taipei Works, resulting in the configuration of the South Office and North Factory until 1934 when the Taipei Works relocated to Songshan (now the National Historic Site of Taipei Machinery Factory). Originally, there were nearly forty buildings in the precinct, but after the construction of the MRT in 2005 and the removal of non-preserved sites during the 2013 restoration, ten buildings remain, including eight legally recognized cultural assets: the Railway Bureau, cafeteria, octagonal men's restroom, power room, engineering office, wartime command center, remnants of the Qing-era machinery bureau, and the Taipei Works (which is not within the Railway Bureau park). After the war, the Railway Bureau was renamed the Taiwan Railway Administration. Due to urban planning, Tacheng Street opened in 1967, severing the connection to the western Railway Bureau officer quarters, forming the street layout seen today. In 1992, the Taipei City Government designated the Railway Bureau office as a Class III historic site, and in 1993, the Taiwan Railway Administration relocated to the new building at Taipei Station. In 2005, the Council for Cultural Affairs commissioned Tunghai University and Chung Yuan Christian University to conduct heritage survey research and reuse planning, and in 2006, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications signed a collaborative agreement with the Taiwan Railway Administration, the Council for Cultural Affairs, and the National Taiwan Museum to officially begin restoration and reuse of the Railway Bureau historic site. The concept of the "Railway Bureau Museum Park" aims to establish a multi-use park with modern exhibit themes while integrating surrounding urban and historical contexts. In 2007, it was designated as a national historic site, including the octagonal tower, cafeteria, power room, engineering office, and wartime command center in the scope of the site. The Taipei Works and the remnants of the Qing-era machinery bureau were subsequently designated as municipal historic sites by the Taipei City Government in 2008 and 2010, respectively. Since 2009, the National Taiwan Museum has managed the land and buildings in this area. The planned theme of the railway museum will be primarily based on issues related to the historic site and base, railway culture, and modernity, and it will also involve integrating the area of the original machinery bureau factory on the west side. (Source: National Taiwan Museum)
