Department of Cultural Affairs

By Gloria Cho

Staff Writer

A beam-raising ceremony to ask a blessing for the Xinbeitou Railway Station was held Nov. 5.

Mayor Ko Wen-je presided at the traditional ritual to link humans and the world with divine beings, and was joined by Vice Mayor Chen Chin-jun and Chung Yung-feng, commissioner of Taipei’s Cultural Affairs Department.

Mayor Ko attributed the success of the engineering to the joint effort between government and local cultural workers. “ Beitou is a place that fully demonstrates Taipei's civic power,” said Ko during the event. He also thanked those who worked on the project for enabling the station to be reproduced in Beitou in time for the 100thanniversary of its construction.

Xinbeitou Railway Station is a typical Japanese-style station. It began operations in 1916 and witnessed the flourishing of the local hot springs industry in successive decades. But in 1988, the station was closed for the construction of Taipei Metro’s Tamsui Line, and later was sold to Changhua Folk Village and reassembled. The preservation campaign can be traced back to 2003, when awareness of the importance of conserving cultural assets began to grow. After nearly ten years of negotiations, in 2013 the station was finally returned to Taipei City Government free of charge by the owner Rirong Company.

After a study of the likely impact on traffic and continuing development, it was decided that Cising Park—located about 50 meters from the original site—should house the reconstructed station. Engineering began in July this year and is scheduled to end early 2017. The station will then be run by the Taipei Culture Foundation.

The station will serve as a platform for information on Beitou’s culture, history, and natural scenery.