Documentary screening and director Q&A: 'On The Train'

The Centre of Taiwan Studies is delighted to screen the documentary On the Train, a moving reflection on the South Link Line and the engineers, drivers, and communities whose lives have been shaped by one of Taiwan’s most remote and storied railways.

Film synopsis 

Taiwan was once known as the 'Kingdom of Railroad', with villages formed along its extensive rail network. The last line to be built was the South Link Line, located in the island’s remote southern tip.

Running between mountains and the Pacific Ocean, the South Link Line is renowned for both its scenery and the difficulty of its construction: eighty percent of the route consists of tunnels and viaducts through rugged terrain.

Over five years, Director Hsiao documented the engineers who built the line and three generations of train drivers who dedicated their lives to it. Filmed before electrification, the documentary preserves the final years of the old trains and stations, many of which have since disappeared.

Before the last trains retired, crowds gathered along the once-isolated railway to say farewell, recalling shared memories, youth, and the romance of a fading era.

Image credit: 何駿逸 via Pineal Culture Studio.