Taipei City's Rapid Transit Department yesterday pledged to double the MRT network from 76.6km to 156.3km by 2014 and continue to 270km by 2020, with one MRT station every 500m in the metropolitan area.
In addition, after the completion of the MRT system linking Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Taipei City in 2014, passengers will be able to enjoy check-in service at the Taipei Twin Towers, a new landmark for the city scheduled to be completed in 2011 west of Taipei Railway Station, before taking the MRT to the airport, the department said.
"We will make the MRT so convenient that citizens living in the urban area will not need cars or scooters anymore. They only need a bicycle to travel between MRT stations and home," commissioner of the department Tom Chan (
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES
Chan said the MRT's Neihu (內湖), Lujhou (蘆洲), Sinjhuang (新莊), Xinyi (信義) and Songshan (松山) lines as well as the airport line's Sanchung (三重) to Taipei section will be completed by 2014, which will help to increase the number of passengers from 1.15 million per day to 2.3 million per day thanks to the expansion of the network.
In 2020, the network will further expand 121.5km with the completion of the Sanxia-Yingge Extension Line, the Shilin (
"If all of the planned lines are completed by that time, all MRT stations in urban areas will be within walking distance, with one MRT station every 500m," Chan said.
Chan also said that the department will provide better MRT service with the completion of the Airport MRT line, which would shorten the travel time between Taipei and the airport to 35 minutes.
Airline companies will set up registration counters at the Taipei Twin Tower to provide check-in service and save passengers more time, Chan added.
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