The Platform Above the Sea

There is a station in Taiwan where the trains no longer stop.

It is called Duoliang Station (多良車站). It lies in Taimali Township (太麻里鄉), Taitung County, on a hillside along the South-Link Railway. Built as an elevated structure into the slope, its ground floor held the waiting room and ticket office; the platform on the second floor faces the Pacific directly. It opened in 1992 and was decommissioned in 2006.

Ever since, the station has been waiting for a train.

Why It Is the Most Beautiful

Travel writers all call it "the most beautiful coastal railway station in Taiwan."

The reason is, in fact, quite physical. Along this stretch the South-Link Railway was carved into the hillside, leaving the station no choice but to be built on the hillside. To solve the problem of the terrain, the old Taiwan Railways raised it on an elevated platform — and so, almost by accident, created a station whose platform looks straight out onto the Pacific.

Stand on the second-floor platform and look down: no one waiting for a train, no smell of lunchboxes, no announcements over the loudspeaker. Only that red iron railing, the unbelievably blue water below, and now and then a train that roars past without ever stopping.

「

They decommissioned the station, but they could never decommission its charm.

」

Fourteen Years of a Station

1992 → 2006.

Just fourteen years. So brief that many who once boarded here were later left with nowhere to keep the memory.

The South-Link was the last railway in Taiwan to be completed, finally linking Taitung and Pingtung only in 1992. Duoliang was a flag stop; it ended passenger service on 1 July 2006 and was closed on 1 October that year (Taimali Township Office).

But the trains still pass through. The station later became a viewing platform, now run by the Taimali Township Office. The red railing stayed, the platform stayed, and that "Duoliang Station" sign stayed too.

Everything is still here. Only the trains no longer stop.

The Workshop in the Village

In Duoliang Village is the Xiangyang Xinchuan Woodcraft Workshop (向陽薪傳木工坊), opened in 2011 in the abandoned Duoliang Elementary School; its first furniture was all made from driftwood. When PTS visited in 2023, its most senior craftsman had already been there ten years (PTS Independent Special Report, 2023).

Getting There

• Location: No. 199, Duoliang Village, Taimali Township, Taitung County
• Transport:
  • By car: from Provincial Highway 9 (the South-Link Highway), around the 415K mark, descend into Duoliang Village
  • By public transport: take the East Taiwan Bus (東台灣客運) 8132 / 8135 / 8135A / 8136 / 8137 / 8138, get off at Duoliang Station, and walk about 200 metres
• Best times:
  • Early morning: the sea at its bluest, the fewest people
  • Dusk: the twilight shifting in gradients across the water — the hour when most people come to take photographs
• Suggested stay: 30 minutes to 1 hour
• Nearby: Jinlun Hot Spring (金崙溫泉), the Taimali First Light Park (太麻里曙光園區)
• Note: the viewing platform is occasionally closed for structural safety; check the Taitung County Government tourism information before you set out

Afterword

The age of the train has ended. But Duoliang Station is still there, still watching the sea.

For city dwellers, this may be the easiest place to reach that has already been "forgotten by time" — about 50 minutes by car from downtown Taitung, then a 200-metre walk after you step off, and there you stand, on that platform. The sea wind is still blowing. The sound of the waves is still here. The red iron railing tells you that, once, people came and people went.

To stop, in itself, is a kind of arrival.

Correction (29 Oct 2026): earlier versions said the line was cut into the Coastal Mountain Range, that this was the only station in Taiwan facing the Pacific, that it was built for village commuters, that Taiwan Railways converted it, and that the railing was rusted. None of these had a first-hand source, and the Coastal Mountain Range lies north of Taitung City. We now follow the Taimali Township Office: a flag stop that ended passenger service on 1 July 2006 and closed on 1 October 2006, now run by the township.

Correction (1 Nov 2026): this section earlier gave the village an indigenous-language name, explained the meaning of one of its characters, and drew a conclusion on the village's behalf — that the workshop was a new way of life grown "after the station disappeared." None of this had a source, and it has been removed. The workshop now carries only the history PTS reported in 2023, and the village is no longer listed under "Nearby".