The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) yesterday said it would continue to communicate with the Taipei City Government about the construction of a light rail system in Keelung, adding that it is still conducting a feasibility study on the project.
The ministry issued the statement after a series of comments by Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), which led to a war of words between the two agencies that lasted for nearly a week.
Ko first complained that the ministry has been delaying the construction of an emergency response center at Taipei Railway Station for 11 years.
In response, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said that Ko was “barking up the wrong tree” and that President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration is “actively” building the center, which had only been a “concept” under the previous administration.
The center is to be completed by March 2019, Wang added.
Ko said that he could kill Wang for making those irresponsible remarks.
The strained relationship between the two agencies was evident yesterday, with Ko and Minister of Transportation and Communications Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) not interacting or even shaking hands at the opening ceremony of the Taiwan Culinary Exhibition in Taipei.
While visiting the booths at the exhibition, Ko reiterated that the light rail system connecting Keelung and Taipei should have its terminal station at the MRT’s Nangang Station, rather than the Nangang Exhibition Center Station.
Making the latter the terminal station would sabotage the city’s plan to develop the Nangang (南港) area, which is centered around Nangang Station, Ko said.
The ministry said the feasibility study on the light rail system that it is conducting with the Keelung City Government is focused on how the system would better serve commuters between Taipei and Keelung, as well as train travelers heading to Yilan, Hualien and Taitung, given the system’s limited capacity.
Because there is not much room left for railway construction in the corridor between Nangang and New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止), the ministry is planning to have the light rail operate on an existing Taiwan Railways Administration line, and the terminal station of the light rail system in Taipei would be the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center Station.
“We will discuss and coordinate with the Taipei City Government about the possibility of extending the light rail farther into the city center, so the benefits of the light rail system could be maximized by combining the light rail system and the city government’s plan to develop the Nangang area,” the ministry said.
The ministry added that the West Nangang Bus Station already opened in April, while the East Nangang Bus Station is scheduled to begin operations in 2022.
The light rail system will not interfere with the West Nangang Bus Station, regardless of whether the system’s terminal station is to be Nangang Station or Nangang Exhibition Center Station, it said.
Making the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center Station the terminal station would make it easier for light rail commuters to transfer to the Taipei MRT System, as the station is the terminal station for the Bannan Line (Blue Line) and the Wenhu Line (Brown Line), the ministry said.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Charles Lin (林欽榮) and Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems Director Chang Tzer-hsiung (張澤雄) have participated in the discussions over the light rail development project, it added.
“We advise Mayor Ko to take time to have a little chat with his colleagues first,” the ministry said, adding that it would continue exchanging ideas with the city government.
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