Hsinchu Station 新竹車站

A beautiful station from the Japanese times

Hsinchu station (新竹車站) is one of the most interesting historic buildings in the city. The train station itself was built in 1893, but there was only a ticket booth. The current neo-Baroque building was constructed in 1913 (Info: Source) during the Japanese rule on Taiwan. It's a lovely, yet small station and really looks a bit like the Taichung Station. When we arrived in Hsinchu that day, it was already very crowded, but on the way back to Taipei, the station almost full of people. I think it's not big enough to cater a city of over 400.000 inhabitants, but I'm glad they didn't tear it down and build an ugly building like in the neighboring Taoyuan City.

These are some impressions of my Hsinchu station. That day was a bit grey, so they didn't come out so well:

Hsinchu Station at the tracks.

At the tracks again.

The mostly young people waiting to buy a ticket at the ticket vending machine.

The main waiting area is a small hall. The ceiling could look better.

Right outside the station, young Taiwanese waiting on the scooters.

My best shot of the Hsinchu Station. See Josh Fahler's HDR photo>>

It's was a bit hard for me to take a good photo of the station, for one there were a lot of people on scooters and cars, which I don't like, when I take pictures of buildings. But another thing hindering a good shot is the main road, that passes by very close to the station and I couldn't go far enough to take a good shot of the whole building. I guess I was also first time in the city and haven't explored all the good spots yet. Maybe next time I do a better job. Hope my images give you an impression of how it looks in and around the station.

[My HSINCHU page][My TAIWAN page][Photo by MKL, 2010]