The first east-west MRT line in Taipei's growing rapid transit system opened yesterday, connecting the four existing north-south lines for the first time since construction on the city's rapid transit network began 11 years ago, providing the city with a timely Christmas gift.
"As a resident of the Ta-an district, as a former borough warden, and as someone living near one of the stations, I have been waiting for this moment for 10 years," said Vice President Lien Chan (
The event took place at the Taipei city government stop, the eastern terminus of the line for the time being.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Many Taipei residents seemed to agree with Lien, as crowds of enthusiastic shoppers and commuters greeted the new Panchiao-Nankang line when it opened to the public at 1pm yesterday.
Although the initial launch of the unified network went off without a hitch, disaster struck mid-evening in the form of a power outage on the new line.
Power along the tracks was suddenly cut at 8:40pm, and lasted about 50 minutes.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
TRTC officials said that power outages on the line had occured previously during the testing stages, but had been corrected. They said the cause of this latest outage was under investigation.
Few other problems were reported on the new line yesterday. One carriage broke down at Lungshan Temple station at about 5pm yesterday, but it was towed to the railyard.
The first 7.7km underground section of the Panchiao-Nankang line from Lungshan Temple to Taipei City government connects with the light-capacity, elevated Mucha Line at the Chunghsiao-Fuhsing station, and with the Tamshui, Hsintien and Chungho lines at Taipei Main Station.
The line will eventually be extended to Nankang to the east, and to Panchiao in the southwest of Taipei.
Initial work on the new line by more than 40 contractors began at about the same time on this line as it did on the other existing lines, said Chiang Yao-tsung (
But reaching compromises between the various contractors was the source of considerable trouble for DORTS, Chiang said.
"Compromise is never easy," he said.
Most passengers yesterday said they were impressed with the new line, and that they planned to use the MRT more often now that it's possible to travel from Mucha or Hsintien in the south, to Tamshui in the north -- as well as to the eastern and western part of the city.
Ridership on Taipei's MRT is expected to rise to 600,000 people per day now that the network is connected, Chiang said.
Head of business development for the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation Hsu Wan-teh (許萬得), said that the number could climb as high as 670,000 to 700,000 in the new year. Before the Panchiao-Nankang line opened, the average number of daily commuters was about 470,000, he said.
By far the busiest section of the new line yesterday stretched between the two connecting stations.
During the evening rush hour, crowds packed the platforms at both Chunghsiao-Fuhsing and Taipei Main stations, with an average two-train wait for passengers.
The TRTC did not put extra trains on the new line for the evening rush yesterday, and trains for both peak and off-peak hours were seven minutes apart.
"Something has to be wrong if so many people are waiting for trains," said one commuter.
Westbound cars from Chunghsiao-Fuhsing to Taipei Main Station were especially crowded, with one passenger wrily commenting that the TRTC should hire staff to shove passengers into the cars.
TRTC officials did not comment yesterday as to when or if additional cars would added to the line.
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