Kaohsiung residents will soon be able to enjoy the convenience of the city's new rapid transit system after Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) received a conditional green light to begin operations on the north-south Red Line.
After a thorough inspection of the system on Tuesday, inspectors from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications told KRTC to make five improvements, including running tests on all the ticketing machines and obtaining documents proving the safety of the system's fire fighting equipment, before beginning operations.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (
Free rides should be granted to residents for a short period following the start of operations, the mayor said.
Deputy Kaohsiung Mayor Lin Jen-yi (
The MRT system is composed of a Red Line that connects Siaogang (小港) and Gangshan (岡山), Kaohsiung County, and an Orange Line that connects Sitzyywan (西子灣) and Daliau (大寮), Kaohsiung County.
Construction began on Oct. 24, 2001, and the system was due to begin operations on Oct. 20 last year. Several cave-ins during construction of the Orange Line delayed progress.
KRTC and the city have yet to agree on fares.
Meanwhile, two Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Kaohsiung City councilors alleged yesterday that KRTC was rushing to begin operations before the March 22 presidential election in a bid to boost Democratic Progressive Party candidate Frank Hsieh's (
City Councilor Wang Ling-chiao (
"[The company] wants to begin operations regardless of people's safety. I think this must be related to the presidential election," KMT Kaohsiung City Councilor Huang Po-lin (
When approached by reporters, Fan Chen-po (
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
RSS