Construction began yesterday of the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit System's Hsinyi line (信義線).
A ground-breaking ceremony, attended by officials of the city government and Taipei City councilors took place at the site of a new station on the rout of the line between Sungchi Road (松智路) intersection and Chuangchin Road (莊敬路).
The new station is scheduled to be completed by the end of September, 2009, according to the city's Department of Rapid Transit Systems (DORTS).
The new station will be named the World Trade Center station. It is close to the World trade Center and the Taipei 101 building.
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and DORTS' Director Fan Liang-hsiu (范良鏽) both attended the ground-breaking ceremony as well as the general manager of the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), Richard Chen (陳椿亮) and KMT Legislator Mu Ming-chu (穆閩珠).
According to transportation officials, the MRT station, with a budget of NT$1.6 billion, will be constructed underground with four exits.
The World Trade Center station is among seven stations that will make up the 6.4km long Hsinyi line, said Chang Hui-chen (張慧珍), a public relations official at the department.
"The Hsinyi Line will start from with the existing Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall station," she said. "Aside from the World Trade Center station, other stations [along the Hsinyi line] will include ones near Ta-an Forest Park, Ta-an Road, Anho Road, Dongmen Market with Hsiangshen being the last station."
The Hsinyi line, running along Hsinyi Road, will be the second MRT line designed to run west-east after the Nankang line (南港線).
Although the Executive Yuan approved construction of the line in 1997, it had been delayed due to financial difficulties, Chang said.
The entire budget for the Hsinyi line is estimated at NT$44.5 billion, Chang said.
"In order to accommodate the current on-going construction of the Taipei 101 building, we've decided to push for the construction of the World Trade Center station now to avoid inconvenience to the surrounding traffic due to digging of the area a second time around [after the Taipei 101 building is finished]," she said.
KEEP AWAY: People should wear a mask in places where they cannot follow social distancing rules, the CECC said, adding that it would publish detailed guidelines today The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced 16 new cases of COVID-19, including two domestic cases, as it urged people to practice social distancing in public spaces by keeping a distance of at least 1m when outdoors and 1.5m indoors. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that seven of the new cases tested positive upon their arrival at the airport, four were under home quarantine, one was under home isolation and two were under self-health management, while the two domestic cases sought treatment on their own. The domestic cases are a man in his
Taiwan will negotiate with the WHO about its participation without Beijing’s help and intervention as more countries, including Australia and Japan, are partnering with Taiwan to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a telephonic roundtable with reporters on Monday also supported Taiwan’s role in the WHO, saying the US Department of State would do its best to assist Taiwan’s “appropriate role” in the world’s highest health policy setting body, Voice of America reported. In a Japan Business Press report published on Sunday, Chinese Ambassador to Japan Kong Xuanyou (孔鉉佑) said
‘HEROIC’: A lack of personal protective equipment has led to high infection rates among health workers in places like Spain and Italy, a nurses’ association said More equipment is needed to protect the world’s nurses working on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic to save lives, the head of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) said. “They are heroic. I think there is no other way to describe what they are doing at this moment,” said Howard Catton, a British nurse who is the council’s CEO. Infection rates of 9 percent and 12 to 14 percent have been reported among health workers in Italy and Spain respectively, he said, adding that nurses have died in the two nations, as well as Iran and Indonesia. “We have no doubt
Japan’s ruling party yesterday proposed the nation’s biggest-ever stimulus package of ￥60 trillion (US$554 billion) as the COVID-19 pandemic locks the economy in a recession. The sum includes ￥20 trillion in fiscal measures with private initiatives and other elements likely making up the rest, the proposal by the Liberal Democratic Party showed. More than ￥10 trillion, or the equivalent of a 5 percentage point cut in the sales tax rate, would be handed out to the public in a combination of cash, subsidies and coupons, the plan showed. The proposal puts an initial figure on a stimulus package that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo
RSS