The glory of the old tourist railroad began to fade in 1982 with the opening of the Alishan Highway. The following year, the old Guangfu train was taken out of service and replaced with the air-conditioned Alishan in 1984, in an effort to reverse the decline. An unintentional consequence of closing the windows on the forest train was that it lost something that made it special.
1982 年，阿里山公路通車，觀光鐵路盛況不再；隔年「光復號」停駛，1984 年林管處再推出「阿里山號」冷氣車廂，力圖挽回頹勢，不意關上窗戶後的森林火車，卻也從此失去了生命力。