First-stage construction of the Taipei MRT metropolitan rail system’s circular line, also known as the Yellow Line, is nearly complete, with testing to begin next month, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday.
Construction is 90 percent finished, including a control center and major electronic and power facilities, the department said.
Power supply has been connected to a 15.4km section from MRT Dapinglin Station to New Taipei Industrial Park Station, covering 14 stops, it added.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems
The control center has begun automated single-train tests along parts of the “middle section,” which has been divided into several phases, the department said.
Testing of the entire section is expected to begin next month, it added.
The department hopes for the section to open to the public next year, Electronic and Electrical System Engineering Division Director Liu Chiu-liang (劉秋樑) said.
The medium-capacity rapid transit line is designed to allow commuters to travel among New Taipei City’s Sindian (新店), Jhonghe (中和), Banciao (板橋) and Sinjhuang (新莊) districts without passing through Taipei.
Construction has been divided into four stages: the “middle circle,” the “south circle,” the “north circle” and the “east circle.”
The middle section was the first to be built and is the only one to have elevated rails among the four planned lines, which are to be built underground.
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