In March 2020, during the undertaking of the Tainan (Urban District) Railway Underground Project, two railway transfer platforms or turntables, belonging to the legacy of Taiwan during Japanese colonial rule were discovered. After deliberation in accordance with the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act, it was decided the South Turntable will be kept at the original site, while the North Turntable will be relocated and preserved. There will be more discussion moving forward on whether the North Turntable will be moved back to the original site.
When the South Turntable was unearthed, roughly one third of the original appearance was still intact. For the North Turntable, bricks and building beams and other structures were still intact. Additionally, the structure of Taiwan Railway Tainan Electric Power Substation was also unearthed.
The South Turntable was discovered to be made of concrete with an inner diameter of roughly 15.7 meters. It was constructed and used at the beginning of Japanese colonial rule in Taiwan and ceased service during the middle of the colonial era.
The North Turntable was constructed of reinforced concrete with an inner diameter of about 18.5 meters. It was built during the middle of Japanese colonial rule in Taiwan and abandoned in the 1970s. In the 1980s, Taiwan Railways Administration built a power station over the top of the North Turntable, thus it got buried.
The two turntables were positioned on two opposite sides of Tainan Train Station. Based on the building materials (concrete and reinforced concrete), experts remarked it as a witness of the evolution of concrete application technology during Japanese colonial rule.
Based on the diameter size of the turntables, the steam locomotives used included the early BT40 locomotive, DT580 locomotive, and CT150 locomotive.
The route of the Tainan Railway Underground Project was unable to circumvent around the North Turntable, therefore it was decided to preserve the main axis and outer ring concrete structures and relocate them to the Xinying district Taiwan Railway warehouse for temporary storage.
The two turntable relics in Tainan is a part of Taiwan's railway construction history, and the Tainan Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage will record and preserve in accordance with the "Cultural Heritage Preservation Act (文化資產保存法)."
Photo courtesy of Tainan Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage