The Taipei City Government said yesterday that it hopes to resume full operation of the city's MRT system by Dec. 15, more than two weeks ahead of schedule.
The entire system, however, is not scheduled to resume fully-automatic operations until March next year, and the system's control center is not scheduled to fully recover until June next year.
The underground segments of the MRT system as well as the system's control center located in the basement of the Taipei Main Station were seriously flooded when Typhoon Nari ravaged the nation between Sept. 16 and Sept. 19.
Inspecting the Taipei Main Station of the Tamsui-Hsintien line yesterday morning, Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said that the city has been working around the clock in a bid to resume full service on the Panchiao-Nankang line, open the Taipei Main Station of the Tamsui-Hsintien line and finish repairs on the system's control center.
"We hope to resume operation on the remaining segment of the Panchiao-Nankang line before Dec. 15. However, it's a tentative deadline and won't be finalized until we're 100 percent sure that it's safe."
The city had originally planned to resume full operation on the entire Panchiao-Nankang line sometime next year.
While the control center is not scheduled to become fully operational until June next year, the Taipei Main Station on the Tamsui-Hsintien line may be finished by Dec. 5.
Kuo Tsai-ming (郭財明), deputy director of the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp maintenance department, said that repairs are taking as long as they have because they were so seriously flood-damaged.
"Most of the electrical devices were submerged under water for more than 12 days and the repair project did not begin until the beginning of October, after the water was finally completely pumped out," he said.
Elements of the system that were severely damaged include communications equipment, escalators, fire safety equipment, the drainage system and the wire and ventilation systems installed in the ceiling.
The Panchiao-Nankang line is the only MRT line which has not yet resumed full service.
The segment between Hsinpu and Hsimen stations of the Panchiao-Nankang line resumed service on Oct. 14.
The Hsiaonanmen extension line was put back into service on Oct. 17. The segment between Hsimen and Chunghsiao Fuhsing stations was up and running on Oct. 27.
While the first and second basement levels of the Hsimen station were put back on line on Oct. 14, the third basement level only resumed service on Nov. 18.
The city had originally planned to resume the operation of the remaining segment of the Panchiao-Nankang line between Chunghsiao Fuhsing and Kunyang stations, except for the Hoshanpi station, by the middle of December. It is now scheduled to open Dec. 10.
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