An underground railway line officially opened in Kaohsiung yesterday following almost 10 years of construction, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ Railway Bureau said.
The line would eliminate all ground-level railway tracks in downtown Kaohsiung, as well as seven railway crossings and 16 flying junctions, it added.
The opening of the line and the new Kaohsiung Railway Station was marked at a ceremony attended by Premier William Lai (賴清德), Presidential Office Secretary-General Chen Chu (陳菊), Minister of Transportation and Communications Wu Hong-mo (吳宏謀) and Railway Bureau Director-General Allen Hu (胡湘麟).
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
Lai thanked the construction team for their hard work over the years, as well as Kaohsiung residents who put up with the construction for the past decade.
The central government and the Kaohsiung City Government should continue working together to finish the project’s second phase, which includes building a “green corridor” using the land previously occupied by railroad tracks and commercial buildings at the Kaohsiung and Fengshan railway stations, Chen said.
Eliminating railway crossings and junctions would improve the traffic in downtown Kaohsiung and reduce traffic accidents caused by trains, Wu said.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
The project also helps to connect areas previously divided by railway tracks, balance the development of different districts in the city, raise land values and improve city residents’ quality of life, he said.
Hu pointed to the difficulties faced while building the underground railway line, which passes under the Love River (愛河).
The most challenging part of construction was the new Kaohsiung Railway Station, which would be used by the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) as well as the Kaohsiung MRT system, he said.
The two systems had to continue operating during the construction of the new line, which proved to be challenging, Hu said.
The underground line between Zuoying (左營) and Fongshan (鳳山) is 15.37km long, the bureau said.
It connects 10 railway stations, including Zuoying, Kaohiung, Fongshan and seven new railway stations built for commuters, it added.
The TRA originally planned to launch the new line at 6am, but the first southbound train did not depart from Zuoying until 6:18am and the first northbound train did not leave the terminal station until 6:45am.
One of the railway signals along the northbound line between the Museum of Arts Station and Zuoying malfunctioned at 6:46am, affecting four trains and about 1,890 passengers, the TRA said, adding that the signal was repaired at 7:40am.
In related news, the TRA is on Thursday to release its railway calendar for next year, featuring scenes captured along the railway line between Hualien and Taitung.
The railway agency said that it would only print 1,000 calendars, adding that people can buy them in Taipei Railway Station, as well as Songshan, Nangang, Taichung, Hualien and Kaohsiung stations.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
Czech officials have confirmed that Chinese agents surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March 2024 and planned a collision with her car as part of an “unprecedented” provocation by Beijing in Europe. Czech Military Intelligence learned that their Chinese counterparts attempted to create conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, which “did not go beyond the preparation stage,” agency director Petr Bartovsky told Czech Radio in a report yesterday. In addition, a Chinese diplomat ran a red light to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese
RSS