Alishan Forest Railway is an industrial railway built to exploit the forest resources in Japanese colonial period. It is divided into the Main Line and Branch Line, totally 85 kilometers. The railway passes by three forest forms, tropical forest zone, warm forest zone, and temperate forest zone, climbing its way from Chiayi Station at an elevation of 30 meters up to Alishan Station at an elevation of 2,216 meters. Also, travelers may take Chushan Lineat dawn to the station at the highest altitude, Chushan Station at an elevation of 2,451 meters, to witness the famous Alishan Sunrise. In order to overcome the rough terrain, Alishan Forest Railway employs brilliant engineering designs like 180-degree U-turn, spiral route, and zigzag switchback, along with a specially-designed hill-climbing locomotive. It is the incarnation of high elevation mountain railway, forest railway, and mountain railway altogether with the most complex diversity a railway can offer. Now that Alishan Forest Railway utilizes four out of the five construction methods seen in the mountain railways worldwide, it is a testimony of it being one of the mountain railways in the world with the potential as a world heritage from Taiwan.
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