The launch of an MRT line connecting Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and the greater Taipei area has been postponed again as the contractor has failed to meet the specified standards during testing, the Bureau of High Speed Rail said.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) is scheduled to make a formal announcement on the status of the project next week, bureau Director-General Allen Hu (胡湘麟) said.
At the end of last year, the ministry announced the line would launch next month. A failure to meet that deadline would be the sixth time that the ministry has had to postpone the launch of the system.
Photo courtesy of Taoyuan Metro Corp.
The contractors failed in three key areas, the bureau said.
First, the contractors are contractually obliged to ensure that the average operating speed is 60kph for the express train service and 45kph for the regular train service, the bureau said.
However, testing revealed that the express train service was running at an average speed of between 57kph and 58kph, while the regular train service only achieved an average speed of between 41kph and 42kph.
Second, express trains from Taipei Railway Station must make the journey to Taoyuan airport’s Terminal One within 35 minutes, but tests showed the trip was taking trains between 35 minutes, 50 seconds, and 37 minutes.
Third, although the signaling system must be able to dispatch the trains at intervals of three minutes, trains are being deployed at intervals of between 3 minutes, 15 seconds and 3 minutes, 17 seconds.
The contractor needs to tweak the software of the signaling system to overcome these obstacles, MRT engineering office acting director Tsao Le-chun (曹樂群) said, adding that failing to address these problems would affect the quality and reliability of the service offered by the system.
The contractor and subcontractor have not found solutions to these issues, the bureau said.
The system is slated to undergo operational testing in 46 specific areas, Tsao said, with six as yet untested.
Before the bureau can apply for an initial inspection from the MOTC, the Rules of MRT Final Inspection and Testing for Revenue Service state that the system must undergo reliability tests for at least seven consecutive days, with system availability reaching a threshold of 90 percent, Tsao said.
Taoyuan Metro Corp — which is to be in charge of operating the system — has said it needs three more months to conduct drills before the system can be launched.
The new line is 51.03km long and incorporates 22 stations en route. The route passes by or through New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Sinchuang (新莊), Sanchung (三重), Linkou (林口), Gueishan (龜山) and Jhungli (中壢).
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