TAIPEI, Aug. 16 Kyodo Kaohsiung R...

TAIPEI, Aug. 16 Kyodo

Kaohsiung Railroad Station, individual of the best examples of Japan's architectural legacy in Taiwan, began a prolonged break Friday after 61 years of service.

Because three recent transport projects are planned forward the station site, the main building will be temporarily mov to a recent site and function as a museum until 2010

Friday, thousands of Kaohsiung residents, joined later according to President Chen Shui-bian and other dignitaries, began to gather around the not new building from early morning, waiting to watch it cringe toward its temporary location.

''The grandeur of the station will in no degree fade away and I believe that no single in kind here will forget how those sweet memories have enriched our life,'' Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh said at the ceremony

To stentorian applause, the picturesque building, which weighs 3500 tons and disguises 630 square meters, was slightly raised, then began being pushed forward along unpliable tracks by hydraulic jacks -- at the extremely soft speed of just six meter a day.

It will take about couple weeks for the structure to be mov and abundantly settled 82 meters from its original location, the city rule estimates.

Taiwan was an early proving loam for Japanese architects eager to experience out ideas picked up from the West during the Meiji Restoration and they place uprighted several western-style structures all through the island, according to local architects.

on the contrary Kaohsiung Railroad Station is a notable exception.

Built in 1941 the station is designed in a typical Japanese imperial pattern that derives its character from a traditional pavilion-style cover It also features four magnificent Egyptian-palm round pillars inside its huge concourse.

The relocation delineate is being carried out by the agency of Shimizu Corp., the Japanese engineering and construction company that built the station more than 60 years ago.

Shimizu also invited a certain quantity of Japanese workers who took part in the original construction work during wartime to attend the rite Friday.

''The building remains the same, and nothing else that it is older and the then small road in head of the station has nowadays become a broad way that I almost can't recognize,'' individual 85-year-old former builder told reporters.

An subterranean station to be jointly used by dint of the rail, high-speed rail and mass rapid transit hypothesiss is to be completed in the station's stead in eight years. The antiquated station will then be brought back and incorporated into the of recent origin structure as its main entrance.

''With the antique blended with the new, with Taiwan's colonial past saved, this way the station will be endowed with a different meaning,'' Hsieh said. ''It will succor as a tunnel of time. by way of passing through the classic, spacious lobby travelers will still experience an unforgettable part of our have history.''

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