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COMPASS MAGAZINE, September 2005.

Chia Ba Train Station JhongSiao Rd., Chiayi City

--By Steven Crook, translated by Annie Liu

Responding to the construction of the high-speed rail link from Taipei to Kaohsiung, which will obviously impact its business, the state-owned Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) has begun focusing on commuter services rather than long-distance services. As part of this policy, instead of adding to Taiwan's 1,097 kilometers of railroad, the TRA has been building more stations in densely-populated parts of the West Coast. One of the new stations is a small but elegant structure in the northern part of Chiayi City, right beside Chiayi Christian Hospital and a B&Q store. The next stop to the south is Chiayi Train Station (three kilometers away); the next stop north is Minsyong (about five kilometers away). Chia Ba Train Station--romanization specialists should note that this is the spelling on the front of the station--is served by slower trains only; to find out which services stop here, go to the TRA's bilingual website, www.railway.gov.tw.