The forerunner of the Taipei Railway Workshop was the " Taipei Arsenal Bureau " of the late Qing dynasty in the 19th century. This was located at Zhengzhou Road and Tacheng Street outside the North Gate of the city. It was primarily a military facility for repairing weapons. With the completion of the Taiwan western railway network in the Japanese era, the demands on the facilities grew significantly. In 1929, the land at the current site, covering nearly 20 hectares, was acquired and designs prepared for the workshop complex, including the main office, the Erecting workshop, the Forging Shop, the Coach Shop, the Paint Shop, etc. " Taipei Railway Workshop," was opened on October 30, 1935. It was the largest railway rolling stock maintenance and logistics center in Taiwan.
World War II exposed the railways in Taiwan to the impact of war. The Taipei Railway Workshop was bombed heavily by the US Air Force causing deaths, injuries and damage. After the war, the name of the complex was changed to the “Taipei Railway Workshop of Taiwan Railways Administration.” In 1950, the Korean War began, and the United States started providing aid to Taiwan. The Taipei Railway Workshop built a new Diesel-Electric Locomotive division and a new Coach Shop under the aid program.
All types of locomotives have been overhauled in the Workshop over the years: first steam locomotives in the Japanese era, then diesel-electric locomotives from the 1960s and finally various types of electric locomotives since electrification of the railways in 1979. Since 1997, the Workshop has also overhauled several steam locomotives and returned them to working order as representatives of Taiwan’s railway heritage. The history of train maintenance at Taipei Railway Workshop is therefore also the history of Taiwan's railway development. At the time the Workshop was relocated in 2013, it had been re-organized into 12 workshops in four main divisions: electric locomotives, diesel-electric locomotives, carriages and wagons, and maintenance.
Over time, both railway rolling stock maintenance practice and the surrounding urban environment have changed. With projects to place the railway underground and extend Taiwan High Speed Rail’s line through Taipei planned, the Taipei Railway Workshop was moved to the Taipei Rolling Stock Workshop in Fugang Taoyuan at the end of 2013 and maintenance work in the old workshops came to an end.
The Taipei Railway Workshop is not only the oldest and most complete railway works in Taiwan, but also includes an important architectural site that has witnessed the changing history of Taipei city from the agricultural era to becoming an industrial and commercial metropolis. The entire Taipei Railway Workshop complex was designated as a national historic site in 2015. In November 2016, the Executive Yuan approved a plan to transform the site into a national railway museum park. The preparatory office was established in August 2019. The Taipei Railway Workshop, which has accumulated the heritage of more than a century of industrial technology, is today reborn in the form of the national railway museum.