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Kaohsiung MRT officials hope for line extension

The Kaohsiung City Government’s Mass Rapid Transit Bureau said yesterday that a revised plan for an extension of its two MRT lines is almost finished and would be submitted to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications next month.

The plan would extend the system’s Red Line and Orange Line by a total of 23.4km, the bureau said.

The Red Line has been in service for five months and the Orange Line is set to open next month. As soon as the Orange line is up and running, the city government will help the Pingtung County and Kaohsiung County governments push for the extension plan to create a comprehensive regional mass transit system, said Lee Yeong-kuen (李永坤), a division chief at the bureau.

The Red Line now runs from Siaogang Station (小港) in Kaohsiung City north to Gangshan Station (岡山) in Kaohsiung County, covering 28.3km. The Orange Line will run 14.4km from the city’s Sizihwan Station (西子灣) to Daliao Station (大寮) in the county.

Lee said that the city government drew up the extension plans in 2006 and had sent them to the ministry several times for approval.

Each time the ministry asked for the plan to be revised over concerns that the extensions might not be cost-effective since they would follow almost the same path as the railway line which links Pingtung and Kaohsiung.

The new plan calls for an extension of the Red Line northward by 9.4km to the Luchu Science Park (路竹科學園區) in Kaohsiung County, and an extension of the Orange Line southward by 14.4km to the Pingtung sugar factory in Pingtung City.

Lee said that the extensions would lead to a significant increase in MRT passenger numbers, adding that the only question now is whether the benefits of the extensions will outweigh the massive investment needed to turn the plan into a reality.

The Red Line extension is expected to cost about NT$16.2 billion (US$516.6 million), while the Orange Line extension’s price tag is NT$31.8 billion, Lee said.


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