The completion of the Sun Yat-sen Freeway in 1980 dealt another heavy blow to the railways, and from that point on road transport became the mainstream. In recent years air transport has also taken off. The railways can neither match aircraft for speed nor road vehicles for convenience, and have continued to lose ground to these other modes of transport.
民國六十七年高速公路完工，更對鐵路造成重大打擊，公路運輸從此成為主流，近年來航空事業也一飛衝天，火車既不能跟飛機比快，也不能跟汽車爭方便，營運開始走下坡。