The Alishan Forest Railway is an 86km network of 762mm narrow gauge railways running up to and throughout the popular mountain resort of Alishan in Chiayi County. Originally constructed by the Japanese Colonial Government in 1912 to facilitate the logging of cypress and Taiwania wood, is itself a tourist attraction with unique Z-shaped switchbacks, 50 tunnels, and over 77 wooden bridges. In the 1980s, 10 Hitachi-built diesel-hydraulic locomotives were delivered and replaced the railcars and the steam engines. The railway line was severely damaged by rains associated with 2009's Typhoon Morakot and, as of 2014, services are only running between Chiayi and Fenchihu.
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