Taiwan Sugar Corporation's "Fifty-Percent Train"

The sights of children biting sugar canes and small trains carrying sugar canes on railways are rather strange to young people nowadays, but an unforgettable memory to the older generations. The reminiscent tour of the "fifty-percent train" will take all tourists, young and old, back to the good old days in the sounds of rail carriages. The term "fifty-percent train" derives from the distance between two rails. The international standard track gauge is 1435 millimeters, whereas that of small trains owned by the Taiwan Sugar Corporation is a merely 762 millimeters, only half of the standard track gauge. Hence it came by the name of "fifty-percent train".

As the sugar production of Taiwan Sugar Corporation declined, the small trains carrying sugar canes would have stopped running. It was with the assistance from people of all walks of life that the sugar carriages were transformed into small tourist trains that today drive slowly past farms and fields to reveal the enticing scenery of nearby regions, which consists of rice farms, sugar cane farms, banana trees, loofahs, and a couple dozens of other trees. Apart from the Sinying Sugar Factory, "fifty-percent trains" are also found in Taiwan Sugar Corporation's Sihu Sugar Factory in Changhua County, Suantou Sugar Plant in Chiayi County, Shulin Sugar Plant in Sinying, and Chiaotou Sugar Plant in Kaohsiung County.

Among them, the "fifty-percent train tour" provided in the Sinying Sugar Factory that shuttles between Sinying and Liouying has a total length of 4.6 kilometers and is currently the longest one of its type in Taiwan. The tour provided by the factory goes from Chongsing Station at the factory to Bawong Station at Yingchang Tourist Pasture in Liouying. It takes 30 minutes to go from the sugar factory to the pasture, where the train stops for another 30 minutes before going back. The total length of the journey is approximately 90 minutes, with reminiscent old Taiwanese songs being played along the way. It is great to listen to melodies from the good old days and feel the simple and elegant glamour of the past.

Apart from taking the "fifty-percent train", visitors to the Sinying Sugar Factory can try Taiwan Sugar Corporation's famed ice products and choose their souvenirs from a wide selection of Taiwan Sugar products. "Old-Day Sugar" is made on the spot on Saturday and Sunday. The sugar making process takes two hours, during which the wonderful smell of cane sugar can be smelled in the entire area of the factory. The "Old-Day Sugar" made here is then given away to visitors. Those who like the taste of it can buy some on their way home.