National Taiwan Museum - Railway Department Park Introduction
The National Historic Site of the Taiwan Governor-General's Office Railway Bureau is located between Zhongxiao West Road, Dacheng Street, Zhengzhou Road, and Yanping North Road, and is under the jurisdiction of the Taiwan Railways Administration. In 1885, Taiwan Provincial Governor Liu Ming-chuan invited British and German advisors to build a machinery bureau at Tamsui River Wharf for the assembly of firearms, ammunition, and coinage; it included a foundry, blacksmith shop, and more. In 1895, the Japanese military took over the machinery bureau and renamed it the Taipei Arsenal, which manufactured and repaired military weapons under the army's jurisdiction, capable of producing projectiles, fuses, small arms cartridges, artillery, and railway bridges. It was later renamed the Taiwan Artillery Factory, and in 1900, it was transferred to the Railway Bureau by the Army Ministry, and in the same year renamed the Taipei Factory. With the opening of the Western Taiwan Cross-Island Railway in 1908, there was a significant increase in railroad transportation and maintenance demands. In 1909, the Taipei Factory expanded eastward, constructing new vehicle repair and painting shops. Starting in 1915, the original buildings on the southern side of the base were demolished, and in 1918, a new Railway Bureau building was constructed, coexisting with the Taipei Factory, forming the configuration of the South Building and North Factory, until the Taipei Factory relocated to Songshan (now the National Historic Site of Taipei Machinery Factory) in 1934. The area originally contained nearly forty buildings, but after the construction of the MRT in 2005 and the restoration work done on the historic site in 2013, only ten buildings remain, including eight designated cultural assets: the Railway Bureau, dining hall, octagonal building men's restroom, power room, engineering room, wartime command center, remnants of the Qing Dynasty machinery bureau, and the Taipei Factory (not within the Railway Bureau area). After the war, the Railway Bureau was reformed into the Taiwan Railways Administration. Due to an urban planning project, Dacheng Street opened in 1967, severing the connection with the official residence group to the west, forming the street layout seen today. In 1992, the Taipei City Government designated the Railway Bureau building as a Level Three historic site, and in 1993, the Taiwan Railways Administration moved to a new building at Taipei Station. In 2005, the National Cultural Heritage Commission commissioned Tunghai University and Chung Yuan Christian University to conduct a study and reuse plan of the historic site. In 2006, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Taiwan Railways Administration, the National Cultural Heritage Commission, and the National Taiwan Museum signed an agreement to establish the Taiwan Museum System Alliance, and the restoration and reuse project of the Railway Bureau historic site officially began, with the concept of the "Railway Bureau Museum Park," aiming to create a multifunctional area with modern exhibition themes while integrating surrounding urban and historical contexts. In 2007, it was designated as a national historic site, including the octagonal building, dining hall, power room, engineering room, and wartime command center, while the Taipei Factory and Qing Dynasty machinery bureau ruins were designated as municipal historic sites by Taipei City in 2008 and 2010, respectively. Since 2009, the Taiwan Museum has been responsible for managing the land and buildings in this area. The planned Railway Museum’s exhibition themes will mainly focus on the historic site and base, railway culture, and modernity, and will also involve the integration of the original machinery bureau factory area within the E1E2 block to the west. (Source: National Taiwan Museum)
