阿里山為國際觀光旅遊景點，日治時期與太平山、八仙山並稱臺灣三大林場。自1906年5月日本藤田組開始施工算起，至今已有116年的歷史。今日，已經和當地的林業成為重要的文化資產，也是該地發展文創、觀光、商旅等產業的重要底蘊。然而，這長達116年的歷史過程，吾人對於阿里山鐵路的性質、經營略策的變遷等基本認識仍然不足，值得再做深入而明確的定位，以利日後相關研究之參考。本研究先究明日治時期阿里山鐵路的敷設目的與經營策略，分析1930年代前後大環境成熟的條件下，阿里山做為觀光地的發展對鐵路經營的影響，檢證其由產業鐵路邁向觀光鐵路的過程，指出1931年起客運收入屢屢高於貨運，呈顯日治時期營林局所採「觀光鐵路」、「強化客運」的經營政策已有明顯成果。

Alishan is an international tourist attraction, which during the Japanese-ruled period was known as one of the three major forest farms in Taiwan along with Taiping Mountain and Baxian Mountain. The Japanese Fujita Group started construction of the Alishan Railway in May 1906. The Alishan Railway is now an important cultural asset with the local forestry, and it is also an important foundation for the development of cultural and creative, tourism, hotel and other industries in the region. However, our basic understanding of the nature of the Alishan Railway and the changes in business strategies over this 116-year period is still inadequate. This research first investigates the laying purpose and business strategy of the Alishan Railway before WWⅡ; analyzes the influence of the development of Alishan as a tourist destination on the railway operation under the mature environment conditions around the 1930s, and confirms that it has moved from industrial railway to tourist train. This study notes that the revenue of passenger transportation has repeatedly exceeded that of freight transportation since 1931, confirming the success of the business strategies of “tourist railway” and “strengthening passenger transport" adopted by the Forestry Bureau.