The work, which will be crucial to upgrading the region's transportation service, will be completed within five years, Ma said during a trip to Hualien to campaign for ruling Kuomintang (KMT) candidates for the Dec. 5 magistrate and mayor elections.

The president, who serves concurrently as chairman of the KMT, said he has been paying close attention to the development of eastern Taiwan and noted that the proposal to electrify the railway system was put forth two years ago during his presidential campaign.

Ma said he felt very embarrassed after taking two rides on the eastern railway, because it is obviously far more inferior to the system in western Taiwan, where there are very convenient transportation networks.

Speaking about the country's economic situation, the president urged the public to increase consumption to help accelerate a recovery, as there are signs the economy is slowly picking up.

Citing a report released a day earlier by the Council for Economic Planning and Development, Ma said the monitoring indicator for Taiwan's economic activities in October finally flashed a green light, a sign of steady economic growth.

This is the first time since May 2008 that the economy has shown a green light.

Thanks to the government's efforts to revive the economy, the projected economic contraction for 2009 has been narrowed from 4 percent to 2.39 percent, he said.

(By Andrew Liu and Y.F. Low)