The Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) held a groundbreaking ceremony for its depot in Fugang (富岡), Taoyuan County, yesterday.
The depot will be used as a facility for train maintenance, with the first stage of construction scheduled to be completed by 2011.
TRA Project Engineering Department Director Chen Hong-ling (陳鴻麟) said the new facility meant that TRA trains would no longer need to run on sections of track used by Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) trains.
Chen said the original TRA depot was in Songshan with both TRA and THSRC trains sharing the underground tunnel between Taipei and Songshan, with TRA trains operating on rails on the south side and the high-speed rail trains on the north.
However, the high-speed rail system is planning an extension from Taipei to Nangang (南港) in 2012, which would force a TRA train to use the high-speed rail tracks in order to reach the depot in Songshan.
“As the high-speed rail system has gradually increased the number of trains it is operating daily, we are concerned about possible safety issues if they continue to use the depot in Songshan,” he said,
The TRA’s new maintenance facility will be constructed on a 62 hectare site, and the entire project is estimated to cost approximately NT$10 billion (US$295 million).
This includes the budget allocated to purchase the land, he said.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)