President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday urged government agencies to make sure everything is in order with the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport before it is launched next month to make the 20-year wait worthwhile.
Tsai made the remarks at Taoyuan High Speed Rail Station after riding an MRT train from the A1 stop at Taipei Main Station to the A13 Airport Terminal 2 Station and then continuing on to the high-speed rail station.
“The airport MRT line is the nation’s longest MRT system, spanning three special municipalities. It also connects the international airport with our high-speed rail, standard railway and Taipei MRT systems,” Tsai said.
Photo: CNA
With the airport line to start a trial run tomorrow before its official launch on March 2, Tsai said public transportation will reach a new milestone with the opening of the line, which brings Taoyuan into the MRT era.
The airport line is not only expected to improve travel throughout Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, but also offers the most convenient option yet for people living in other parts of the nation who want to travel abroad, she said.
“The launch of the airport MRT line brings two significant advances. The first is that it would ... provide further impetus for the development of Taoyuan,” Tsai said.
“A more convenient transportation system will change the city’s lifestyle. [Taoyuan] Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) has also announced plans to build more social housing units along the line to help relieve population pressure in the capital,” Tsai said.
The second is that the new line would significantly increase the number of tourists and other travelers using the airport, she said.
The completion of the line is the result of concerted effort by the central and local governments to solve problems and ensure the system’s stability, Tsai said.
“The public has waited 20 years. Let us make the wait worthwhile by making sure all preparatory work is completed,” she said.
Tsai said the new line’s first test would be to see how tourists from around the world evaluate it, as it will show travelers the progress Taiwan has made.
The trial run is to be conducted in two phases. From tomorrow to Feb. 15, the line will be open to groups from government agencies and other organizations with advanced reservations.
From Feb. 16 through March 1, it will be open to the public from 8am to 4pm daily.
Planning for the line began in 1996 and construction in 2006.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
RSS