The much-anticipated Airport Rail from Taipei to Taoyuan is scheduled to begin trial operation next year, the Bureau of High Speed Rail said yesterday.
Last year, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications finalized the launch date for the Airport Rail as the end of next year after several postponements.
The bureau’s acting director general Allen Hu (胡湘麟) said yesterday that 91.77 percent of the construction has been completed.
Testing began last month in one of the route’s six sections, with the final section from Sanchung (三重) to Taipei to be tested in October, Hu said.
“Testing is to be completed by the beginning of next year, when we will give the system to the Taoyuan Metro Corp for a one-year-long trial operation. The entire route is scheduled to be launched by the end of next year,” he said.
“Based on our Taipei MRT system experience, one year is needed to address any problems before official operations begin,” Hu added.
The express train from Taipei to Taoyuan is expected to take 35 minutes, with the regular service taking about 50 minutes.
Previously, the bureau had recommended that express train tickets cost NT$160 and regular service tickets cost NT$80.
However, the final ticketing scheme will be decided by the Taoyuan Metro Corp, when it takes over operations.
Hu said the bureau had agreed to compensate the Taoyuan Metro Corp as a result of construction delays, adding that the bureau is to seek compensation from the construction contractor.
The bureau has purchased 28 new train sets, comprising 11 for express services and 18 for regular services.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition