High-speed rail gearing up for 2016 Taiwan Lantern Festival

2016 Taiwan Lantern Festival continues its high popularity. With the upcoming three consecutive holidays in the coming weekend, it is estimated to attract more than 5,000,000 visitors to join the festival. Transportation Bureau of Taoyuan City has not only opened special “Intercity Bus Lines for Lantern Festival” but also added 43 more train lines between Taipei and Taichung. Taoyuan City is also gearing up for the 228 Memorial Day and will add temporal train lines, which will not stop until sending all the passengers back.

On the first day of 2016 Taiwan Lantern Festival, the opening ceremony has already attracted 1,300,000 visitors, even though it has been raining recently. Thus, it is expected to attract loads of visitors during the weekend. Under such circumstance, the City’s Transportation Bureau and High-speed Rail Station will be on high alert to prepare for the upcoming heavy traffic on the 228 Memorial Day.

The Shuttle bus services – “Intercity Bus Lines for Lantern Festival” are provided at 3 locations: Taipei Yuanshan bus station, Banqiao train station and Hsinchu train station by several bus services providers at the request of the Committee of Transportation Bureau. Visitors can take the buses to the exhibition venue directly. The average departure time for the bus is between 30 to 40 minutes. There are several parking lots located around the exhibition site, which provides about 20,000 parking space.

Taoyuan High-Speed Rail Station has mentioned that during the planed “228 Memorial Day” from 26 this month to March 1, it will add 115 train lines and extra 43 train lines for the Lantern Festival between Taipei and Taichung (17 heading to South, 26 heading to North). By doing so, the station will be able to provide adequate transportation service to fulfill the need of the visitors during the upcoming Lantern Festival.

Station Master of Taoyuan High-Speed Rail Station, Hung Jen-Chang says during the holiday of 228 Memorial Day, except for the overtime shifts, there will be approximately 130 staffs to help guide passengers to take the bus lines and enjoy the Lantern Festival. The relevant mechanism will be launched to limited the traffic that get in and out the exhibition area in order to distribute the flow of visitors and keep the traffic smooth.

Inside the high-speed rail station, it will enhance the overall capacity. The train station will fulfill its mission to assist the transportation. And it will not close until all the passenger are sent back.