The MRT Wenshan-Neihu Line experienced a 40-minute service suspension yesterday morning because of a network system breakdown at Jiannan Station.
The line was suspended at 9:17am, and operation resumed at 10:04am, Taipei Rapid Transit System (TRTC) said.
Yesterday’s system breakdown marked the first full-line suspension after the Taipei City Government changed the name of the line from Muzha-Neihu Line to Wenshan-Neihu Line in hopes of improving the line’s fortunes.
TRTC spokesman Chao Hsiung-fei (趙雄飛) said the line’s operation center lost contact with the network system at 9:17am, and all 34 trains in operation were halted immediately.
Two of the trains were stopped between stations, and the TRTC staff evacuated passengers while driving the trains back to the platforms manually, he said.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) apologized yesterday for another system breakdown of the line, and promised to continue improving the stability of the line.
“The stability of the line has improved to about 80 percent, but we need to have 100 percent stability. The city government will take the suspension as a warning and continue improving the situation,” he said.
Chao dismissed challenges to the effectiveness of efforts to improve the network system, and said the system builder, Bombardier Inc, would design another network system to replace the current one by January.
The city government spent about NT$1 million (US$30,000) to change the name of the Muzha-Neihu Line after the problem-ridden line was jokingly called by the last two syllables in “Muzha” and “Neihu,” which when put together, sound like zhahu (詐胡), a term in the game of mahjong that describes a situation where players declare they’ve won, when in fact they haven’t.
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