WEATHER
Cool weather to continue
Dry and cold weather is forecast to continue through Wednesday as a northeasterly wind system carrying little humidity lingers, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. With the system forecast to weaken on Wednesday evening, sporadic showers are possible in mountainous areas of northern, northeastern and eastern parts of the country, while stable weather is likely to continue elsewhere, the bureau said. The weather is expected to remain relatively cool through tomorrow, with lows of 15°C to 17°C in northern and central Taiwan, due to depleted cloud cover, the bureau said. In other areas, lows through Wednesday are expected to be between 18°C and 20°C, it said. It advised people in central and southern Taiwan to be aware of possibly large differences between daytime and nighttime temperatures and to keep warm as the mercury falls at night. The northeasterly is helping to disperse atmospheric pollutants across Taiwan, so air quality has been fair, except in southern Taiwan, where the Air Quality Index showed an “orange alert” in some areas, indicating unhealthy air for sensitive groups, the Environmental Protection Administration said.
TRANSPORTATION
Downed line delays trains
Rail services in eastern areas were delayed yesterday due to broken overhead power lines, the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said. Trains traveling between Hanben Station in Yilan County and Heping Station in Hualien County were running at least 20 minutes behind schedule since midnight on Friday and the delays continued until about 9pm yesterday, the TRA said. The problems began at 11:51pm on Friday, when a pantograph atop an express train traveling from New Taipei City to Hualien fell and downed power lines, the TRA said. The pantograph, a diamond-shaped apparatus on the roof of electric trains that connects to the overhead lines, also broke a window in the driver’s cab and damaged some carriages, the TRA said. The driver, Wu Chang-chi (吳長智), said he immediately applied the brakes and the train stopped after traveling another 500m. None of the 300 people onboard were hurt, Wu said.
TRANSPORTATION
Mayor touts Airport MRT
The Taoyuan Airport MRT which links Taipei Main Station to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport has served more than 63 million passengers since it began operations in 2017, Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) said on Friday. Since the launch of commercial services on March 2, 2017, the number of people who have accessed the the 51.03km line, which connects Taipei and Taoyuan via New Taipei City, has grown steadily, Cheng said at an event at the A8 Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Station in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口). Average daily ridership was 74,000 in the first 10 months of this year, up 20.9 percent year-on-year, Cheng said. Two services run on the line, commuter and express trains. Express trains run from Taipei to the airport in 38 minutes, while the commuter service stops at all 21 stations, but still takes only 50 minutes. The operator is seeking to balance revenue and costs by drawing in more passengers, Cheng said, adding that the increases in passenger numbers are due to discounts that were introduced last year. There are 20,000 to 30,000 passengers who use the line each day, which reduced congestion on roads, he said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost