The Ke-nan hao

"Ke-nan" in Chinese means "to use recycled material to overcome the shortage of resources." The Ke-nan movement was promoted by the KMT（Kuo-Min-Tang）government on Taiwan in 1950 when they wanted to recover the mainland of China from which they had only recently been disposed by the new communist government.

This name was applied to the gasoline railcars introduced in late Japanese colonial era, but which were in very bad condition after the WWII. These round-ended gasoline powered passenger railcars were built in the 1930s when the streamline movement was at its peak all over the world. Initially numbered as series Kiha300 and Kiha400 when first delivered, they were renumbered as Nakiha2300 and Nakiha2400 in 1937. There were a total of 13 cars purchased, 7 Nakiha2300 cars and 6 Nakiha2400 cars. Built to the same basic design as Japan Railway's Kiha42000, later Kiha07, railcars, they were all out of service during the WWII because of the shortage of gasoline.

After the war, the railcars were in very poor condition, so the TRA used the spirit of "Ke-nan" to rebuild them into running condition at which time they were given new series numbers, GA2300 and GA2400. Yet in the summer of 1950, only 6 of the 13 cars were serviceable（GA2302/2304/2305/2306 and GA2401/2402.）

Beginning on January 1st, 1951, TRA started to run services on the I-lan line with these railcars under the name "Ke-nan hao Chi-yo-che"（Chi-yo-che means gasoline railcars）. In April 1954, these railcars were redeployed from express services after which they were re-equipped with diesel engines. The name "Ke-nan hao Chi-yo-che" was then discontinued as the cars were no longer gasoline powered.