Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) officials yesterday apologized for delays to the MRT system’s connection to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport that set the project completion date back by six months.
Bowing at a news conference, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Commuications Tseng Dar-jen (曾大仁), Bureau of High Speed Rail Director-General Allen Hu (胡湘麟) and bureau chief engineer Chung Wei-li (鍾維力) apologized, saying that the launch date for the airport MRT line would be delayed.
It was the sixth delay since the project was announced in 2002. The project is to connect the airport directly to the MRT’s Taipei Main Station, stopping at Jhongli Township (中壢) and the Taoyuan High Speed Rail Station.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
The MRT line is still undergoing trial runs and the primary reason for its delay is six of the 46 test items failing to meet contract standards, Hu told the news conference.
According to the contract, terminal-to-terminal MRT trains must travel at an average speed of 60kph, while trains that stop at each station must travel at an average speed of 45kph.
The trains currently travel at 57km and 42km per hour respectively, Hu said.
The speed has affected the expected time of arrival of trains on one-way trips, which was set at 35 minutes from Taipei Main Station to Taoyuan airport, the ministry said, adding that the line took 36 to 37 minutes to make a single one-way trip.
The time between trains, standing at three minutes and 15 seconds, does not meet the three minutes stated in the contract, Hu said.
While the bureau constructed the line, Taoyuan Metro Corp was expected to handle the line’s operations, the ministry said, adding that both sides were at odds on how to conduct simulated service and trial runs.
The bureau wanted Taoyuan Metro Corp to allocate more personnel for the trial runs in the hopes of becoming more familiar with the system, the ministry said, adding that the company was adamant that it would start simulated services only after all of the trial runs meet contract standards.
The ministry said that if all goes according to plan, the line could start operating at the end of the year, but due to previous letdowns it was not going to set a date for the commencement of services.
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