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.
SECRET OUT: Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung yesterday accidentally revealed that the infections occurred at the ministry’s Taoyuan General Hospital The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported the fifth COVID-19 case in a cluster infection at a Taoyuan hospital, where four other medical workers were confirmed to have been infected over the past week. The latest case is a nurse who had tested negative on Tuesday last week, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, told a news conference. However, on Thursday, she developed symptoms, such as nasal congestion and a cough, and a second test yesterday found that she was infected, Chen said. She is the head nurse of a ward where two
VIGILANCE: While two of the cases are family members of a nurse, there is no sign of community spread and the source of infection is identifiable, the CECC said The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported four new domestic COVID-19 cases associated with a cluster infection at a Taoyuan hospital. Since the first case was identified on Tuesday last week, five healthcare workers — two doctors and three nurses — at the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Taoyuan General Hospital have tested positive for the virus. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that two of the four new cases are the husband and daughter of a nurse (case No. 863) who had earlier been confirmed to have COVID-19. The husband (case No. 864)
Don Quijote, the biggest discount store in Japan, is opening its first store in Taiwan today. The three-story Don Don Donki store in Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) area, which operates 24 hours a day, has already created 400 jobs, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said in a press release. Many Taiwanese, including Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊), consider a trip to Don Quijote an essential stop in Japan. “I have been to Don Quijote at least 10 times myself,” Huang said yesterday at a news conference announcing the store’s opening. “They are rendering an important service, because we cannot travel
INCURSION: After 13 PLA aircraft flew into Taiwan’s ADIZ, the US Department of State said that China should rather ‘engage in meaningful dialogue’ with Taiwan US President Joe Biden’s administration on Saturday urged China to stop placing military pressure on Taiwan, while calling on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to engage in peaceful dialogue. The statement by the US Department of State was issued after 13 Chinese military aircraft flew into Taiwan’s southwest air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Saturday, the highest number observed in a single day this year, the Ministry of National Defense said. The air force scrambled fighter jets to monitor the Chinese aircraft, issuing radio warnings and mobilizing air defense assets until the planes left the ADIZ. The US “notes