The Dongmen MRT Station is scheduled to officially open on Sunday morning with fare discounts lasting for one month to celebrate its opening, the Taipei City Government announced yesterday.
The station, which is located on Xinyi Road between Jinshan S Road and Yong Kang Street, serves as a transfer station for the Xinzhuang and Zhonghe lines.
Once the station opens, Taipei MRT’s Tamsui Line and the Zhonghe Line are to run independently, with Guting station replacing Taipei Main Station as the new transfer station for passengers from Jhonghe (中和) heading in the direction of Taipei Main Station and along the Tamsui Line.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
In celebration of the launch of the station, passengers using an EasyCard are to travel free of charge through Guting Station, Dongmen Station and Zhongxiao Xinsheng Station over the next 30 days.
Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) general manager Tan Gwa-guang (譚國光) said the route change is expected to affect about 80,000 passengers, mostly on the Zhonghe Line.
“With the opening of Dongmen Station, the MRT network will see its first route change. We understand that this change could cause inconvenience for some passengers, but it will help ease heavy crowding at Taipei Main Station,” he said.
EasyCard holders traveling between any of the four stations on the Zhonghe Line (Nanshijiao, Jinan, Yongan Market and Dingxi) and north of Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station on the Tamsui Line are to enjoy a 30 percent discount.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday instructed the TRTC to offer passengers sufficient information about the new routes as he inspected the final preparation work at the station and said he expected the route change to help ease passenger flow at Taipei Main Station.
According to Tan, passengers in Jhonghe and Yonghe (永和) heading to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station, National Taiwan University Hospital Station and Taipei Main Station are to be able to transfer at Guting Station and at Zhongxiao Xinsheng Station for destinations in eastern Taipei.
Passengers are to be able to travel directly to Nanshijiao — the final stop on the Zhonghe Line — on the Luzhou Line.
The number of passengers commuting through Taipei Main Station, which has a daily capacity of 300,000 to 400,000 people, is to be reduced by between 10,000 to 20,000 a day, he said.
The fare discount is to last until Oct. 29.
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