A rapid transit line connecting Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and the greater Taipei area is still expected to begin operations in March next year after final tests are conducted, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Wu Meng-feng (吳盟分) said yesterday.
Wu said the Taoyuan International Airport MRT project has met 42 of the 43 test criteria.
The remaining test criteria involves the stability of the line’s signaling system, an area that has plagued the project since the testing process began.
He said the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Taoyuan City Government that commits to begin operating the MRT system by the end of March next year on the condition that it is proved safe.
“We’re not giving up on this target,” Wu said, while adding that there are problems that still need to be solved during the final stages.
The deputy transportation minister was responding to a report on Tuesday by Taoyuan Metro Corp chairman Ho Nuan-hsuan (何煖軒) to the Taoyuan City Council that the odds of launching the MRT system in March next year are only about “50-50.”
Construction of the Taoyuan International Airport MRT is expected to be completed on Nov. 15, according to the Bureau of High Speed Rail.
The line has been under construction since 2006. There are 14 stations along the 35km line that links Taipei Main Station and Taoyuan airport, Taiwan’s main international gateway.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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