The Taipei MRT’s newly completed Songshan Line is an important addition to the capital’s transportation network, as it provides more transfer options, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said at the line’s inauguration ceremony yesterday.
Under construction since 2006, the line was originally scheduled to open last year, but was held up by the discovery of a Qing Dynasty-period archeological site near the line’s Beimen Station, Taipei’s Department of Rapid Transit Systems said.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Hau and other dignitaries yesterday toured displays of the discovered artifacts within Beimen Station, before stepping into an MRT train for a ride to the line’s Songshan terminal station.
Photo: CNA
“To maximize the ease of transferring between lines, Taipei’s MRT system was designed around three horizontal and vertical lines, with Songshan the final horizontal line,” Hau said, adding that with the opening, the city’s core MRT network is now completed.
With the exception of the airport MRT line being constructed by the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (台灣高鐵) to connect Taipei Main Station to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, all new lines called for in city plans would boast only a “medium level” passenger capacity, a step below the “high level” capacity of most of Taipei’s current lines, the department said.
Meanwhile, Hau clarified earlier remarks suggesting that Taipei independent mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) winning the Nov. 29 election would lead to chaos in plans for the development of Greater Taipei’s public transportation system.
Photo: CNA
Hau, a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), said that a non-KMT mayor might have trouble communicating effectively with the mayors of New Taipei City and Keelung, calling on all candidates to state clearly their position on planned future MRT lines linking the three cities.
The Songshan Line is an extension of the Xindian Line, running through eight stations, most of them parallel to Nanjing E Road: Ximen, Beimen, Zhongshan, Songjiang Nanjing, Nanjing Fuxing, Taipei Arena, Nanjing Sanmin and Songshan.
With the opening of the extension, trains will no longer run directly between the Xindian and Tamsui stations.
Four stations along the line connect with other MRT lines: Ximen to the Bannan Line, Zhongshan Station to the Tamsui-Xinyi Line, Songjiang Nanjing Station to the Zhonghe-Xinlu Line, the newly renamed Nanjing Fuxing Station (formerly Nanjing East Road Station) to the Wenhu Line, as well as Songshan Station to the Taiwan Railways Administration’s Songshan Station.
The Songshan Line is to start service at 6am today, allowing free travel for EasyCard holders for one month, the Taipei City government said.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS