Governor Liu had predicted that the opening of a railway would benefit commerce, and true enough, it soon became the main means for transporting export-bound tea. Camphor from Hsinchu, Miaoli, and Wuchi also made its way to Taipei via the rails, and from there was shipped abroad via Keelung or Tanshui.
光緒十九年，基隆至新竹路段通車，應了劉銘傳「鐵路開通，則商業可致繁盛」的說法，鐵路成為運茶出口的最重要通路，連苗栗、梧棲的樟腦都經鐵路匯集台北，再轉運基隆或淡水出口。