The launch of the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line will likely affect passenger volumes at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said after a ride on the new line yesterday, calling on the Executive Yuan to help streamline efforts by Taipei and Taoyuan to relocate the Songshan facility.
Ko and Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) rode the MRT line, which opened this month on a trial basis.
Ko praised the “excellent” construction quality of the line, saying that the ride was “smooth and comfortable.”
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
He was equally complimentary of outlets in the carriages for passengers to charge mobile devices, as well as free Wi-Fi connectivity, saying that he had instructed Taipei Rapid Transit Corp to offer free Wi-Fi services in Taipei MRT carriages by the end of the year.
The launch of the airport MRT provided an outlook on Songshan airport’s future, Ko said.
Ko said that he and Cheng would ask the Executive Yuan to streamline efforts by the two municipalities to relocate Songshan airport, as the highest level of collaboration is required to complete the task.
Ko’s administration has proposed a plan to merge Songshan airport with Taoyuan airport by 2020, with a central park planned to be built at the Songshan site.
Taoyuan airport’s third terminal, of which construction is to begin next month, and a planned fourth terminal should be able to process the passenger volume from Songshan airport, the Ko administration said.
Ko said he was concerned about the line’s terminal station next to Taipei Railway Station being overwhelmed by people using the new line.
“I believe that the A1 Station needs to be expanded,” he said.
“Taoyuan airport processes about 40 million passengers every year and if quarter of them travel to Taipei, the A1 Station would be overwhelmed,” Ko said.
Ko said that his estimate on passenger volume was made after factoring in airport employees and visitors to Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taipei.
Ko said Cheng should be commended for launching the new MRT line within his first two years in office, ending a protracted construction period of 20 years.
The line is to offer limited numbers of free rides beginning today until March 1, Taoyuan Mass Transit Corp said.
To take a free ride on the line before March 2, people can get a numbered tag at stations on the line at 7:40am, 9:40am, 11:40am or 1:40pm each day.
About 20,000 numbered tags are to be distributed at the line’s 21 stations each day, with about 1,200 tags per day to be handed out at the A1 Station.
A check-in and bag-drop service for airport passengers will be available between 8am and 4pm at the A1 Station during the trial period, Taoyuan Mass Transit said.
China Airlines and EVA Air have check-in counters at the A1 Station, as will their respective subsidiaries, Mandarin Airlines and UNI Air, it said.
Taoyuan Mass Transit said it has introduced six self-service bag-drop machines at the A1 Station.
Trains on the new line are to run from 6am to 11pm when commercial operations begin.
Additional reporting by CNA
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
RSS