Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday promised to consider connecting the MRT’s Luzhou Line and Zhonghe Line via the Dongmen Station, while construction on two other MRT lines continues.
Dongmen Station, between Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Daan Park, will serve as transfer station for the Xinzhuang and Xinyi lines once construction of those two lines is completed in 2013.
However, the station could be used sooner to link the Luzhou and Zhonghe lines if the city government allows it.
Doing so would mean passengers would be able to travel directly on the Luzhou Line to Nanshijiao without making any transfers.
In a transportation meeting at the Taipei City Hall yesterday, Lawrence Lan (藍武王), an adviser to the city government who was a member of the MRT line inspection committee, suggested that the city first open Dongmen Station to link the Luzhou and Zhonghe lines, rather than waiting for the completion of the Xinyi and Xinzhuang lines.
With the railway construction under the Xinzhuang and Xinyi lines, as well as the building and platform of Dongmen Station already completed, Lan said that Zhongxiao Xinsheng Station on the Luzhou Line and Guting Station on the Zhonghe Line could be connected if the Dongmen Station served solely as a passageway to integrate the two lines.
Under the propossal, passengers would not be allowed to board or disembark at Dongmen Station. The city government could skip the Ministry of Transportation and Communications inspection process and get approval from the ministry for the station’s safety mechanism alone, which could be done some time this year.
The lines would not be integrated until 2013 if the city decided to wait for the completion of the Xinyi and Xinzhuang lines.
Taipei Rapid Transit Corp general manager Tan Gwa-guang (譚國光) said that the company and Taipei City’s Department of Rapid Transit Systems are still studying the possibility, but failed to confirm they would accept the proposal.
Hau said the proposal would offer more convenience for passengers sooner, and said the city government would consider the proposal while ensuring construction safety.
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