Ershui Station (Former Erbashuei Station)

Ershui Station (二水車站), known during the Japanese colonial period as Ershui-eki (二水驛), is a historic railway station located in Ershui Township, Changhua County, Taiwan. It occupies a pivotal position in Taiwan's railway network as the junction where the Jiji Branch Line diverges from the main Western Trunk Line (縦貫線), connecting the western coastal plains to the mountainous interior of central Taiwan.

The station was established on January 15, 1905 (Meiji 38) under the name Erbashuei Station (二八水驛), reflecting the original place name. On October 1, 1920, as part of a broader administrative reorganization under the colonial Government-General of Taiwan, the station was renamed to Ershui (二水). The original station building was a wooden structure typical of early colonial-era railway architecture in Taiwan. In 1933–1935, this was demolished and replaced with a modern reinforced concrete building designed by the Japanese architect Utsushiki Takeo (宇敷赳夫), which remains standing and in use today. The station was designated a Changhua County Historic Site in 2020.

Ershui's strategic importance stemmed from its role as a three-way railway convergence point. The Western Trunk Line, completed in stages between 1899 and 1908, connected the major cities along Taiwan's western corridor. The Jiji Line (集集線), a 29.7-kilometer branch line extending east from Ershui to Checheng in Nantou County, was originally constructed between 1919 and 1921 by the Taiwan Electric Power Company to transport construction materials for the Sun Moon Lake Hydroelectric Power Project (日月潭水力発電所). Passenger service began in 1922, and the line was later transferred to the colonial railway administration. Additionally, a sugar-company narrow-gauge railway — opened between Nantou and Erbashuei in November 1911 by the Chūō Sugar Company, later part of Meiji Sugar — ran through the area, transporting sugarcane, a cornerstone of the colonial economy. The convergence of these three systems at Ershui made it an essential node for both economic exploitation and military logistics during the colonial and wartime periods.

During World War II, Taiwan's railway network served as critical infrastructure for the Japanese Empire's war effort, transporting troops, supplies, and raw materials. Junction stations like Ershui, which connected trunk lines to branch lines serving industrial and resource-extraction sites in the interior, held particular strategic value. The Jiji Line's connection to hydroelectric facilities and mountain resources made Ershui a logistics gateway for central Taiwan.

Today, Ershui Station continues to operate as a Taiwan Railways Administration station serving both the Western Main Line and the Jiji Line. The 1935 station building, with its distinctive golden-yellow facade and Japanese colonial architectural features, has been carefully preserved and renovated. In recent years, the station underwent a "subtraction design" restoration that stripped away later additions to reveal the building's original colonial-era appearance. The station area serves as a popular gateway for tourists visiting the scenic Jiji Line, and Ershui Township promotes its railway heritage as a key cultural asset.