The special budget for the construction of a light rail system to connect Taipei and Keelung would need an extra NT$5 billion (US$164.7 million) if the government followed the Taipei City Government’s suggestion that the route’s terminal station should be at Nangang MRT Station, rather than the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center MRT Station, the Railway Reconstruction Bureau said yesterday.
Under the government’s Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program, the Keelung light rail project has a budget of NT$8.1 billion.
The proposed extension of the route would entail further construction and land expropriation costs that would increase the budget by an estimated 60 percent.
Photo: CNA
The bureau planned to make the Nangang Exhibition Center Station the terminus of the light rail system so that passengers could continue their journeys using the MRT’s brown or blue lines, Railway Reconstruction Bureau Acting Director-General Allen Hu (胡湘麟) said
In addition, light-rail passengers wanting to access Nangang MRT Station could walk about 1km west after exiting Nangang Exhibition Center MRT Station, he said.
The Railway Reconstruction Bureau is considering two possibilities for a Nangang Exhibition Center terminus, he said.
One is to build an above-ground station at Nansi Park (南汐公園), opposite the center; the other is to build an underground station on Nangang Road (南港路), he said.
The bureau favors the above-ground site, as it would allow smooth connection to the existing Taiwan Railways Administration railway route and light-rail passengers arriving at the station could access the Nangang Exhibition Center Station through two MRT exits inside the park, he said.
In addition, that option would not disrupt the traffic near the MRT station, the bureau said.
“However, the Taipei City Government proposed that the light rail system be extended to the Nangang MRT Station by an underground railway line. Therefore, our team has begun researching the possibility of building an underground light rail station,” Hu said.
Although it is “technically feasible” to extend the light rail line from the Nangang Exhibition Center to Nangang Station, Hu said that the team would have to first investigate the feasibility of installing the necessary utility pipelines along the proposed route.
The NT$8.1 billion earmarked to build the Keelung light rail system would be sufficient to cover the cost of the underground light rail station in Nangang Exhibition Center, Hu said.
However, the budget would not cover the construction cost of a railway tunnel connecting Nangang Exhibition Center Station and Nangang Station, and an underground light rail station in Nangang Station, he said.
Hu did not specify the exact figure of the increased costs.
However, extrapolating from past MRT projects, bureau officials estimated that the extension would add NT$5 billion to the budget.
The bureau said it is to meet with Keelung City Government and Taipei City Government officials to discuss the details of the light rail project next month after the bureau and a research team completes a report.
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