The Nankang extension of Taipei City's MRT system is to begin operation on Saturday, bringing the city's mass transportation network one step closer to completion.
Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
PHOTO: LU CHUN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
"I'm here to announce that the city's mass transportation network is now complete, except for the Neihu line," Ma said.
PHOTO: LU CHUN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
Neihu currently is the city's only district without access to the MRT. The history of the construction of the MRT's Neihu line has been a controversial one since the Cabinet approved the NT$42.6 billion project in 1993.
The city has had a hard time deciding whether to build it above or below ground, and whether to opt for a medium- or high-capacity transportation volume.
Ma is scheduled to officiate the opening ceremony at 9:30am on Saturday and the line will officially become operational at 1pm the same day.
The 4.6km extension from Taipei City Hall in Hsinyi District to Kunyang in Nankang District is expected to result in an additional 100,000 people using the MRT daily.
Currently an average of 900,000 people a day ride the MRT. That number reached a record high during the Christmas period, when a million people used the network in a single day.
To make travel easier, Ma said, more trains will be dispatched during peak hours from Taipei Main Station to Chunghsiao Fuhsing.
The waiting time between trains will also be reduced from 5.5 minutes to 2.5 minutes.
With the completion of the Nankang extension, the overall length of the city's MRT network will increase to 66km, with 60 stations.
Meanwhile, the operational hours of the MRT system has already been extended from 11pm to midnight.
Both the MRT extension and its extended opening hours were election promises made by Ma.
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