New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday said he hopes that mechanical problems on the new line connecting Taipei’s MRT metropolitan railway system to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport would be resolved after contractors put the date for the completion of the project back again on Thursday.
“The project matters a lot to many people,” Chu said, urging the authorities to fix the problem as soon as possible.
Originally set to start operations by the end of this year, the project has been experiencing system instability since March, when related system stability work should have already been completed.
Bureau of High Speed Rail Director-General Allen Hu (胡湘麟) said that although the stability of the railway has been improving recently, it remains unclear whether the line would be able to start operations by the end of the year as planned.
The project’s contractors may be fined NT$12 million (US$383,239) per day for each day the project runs over its due date, up to a maximum of NT$2.5 billion, the bureau said.
However, it is feared, however, that operations of the new line would be postponed until next February, sources familiar with the project said.
There are 14 stations along the 35km line that links Taipei Main Station and the airport.
The trains are to run every 10 minutes during rush hour and every 15 minutes during other periods, taking 35 minutes to travel between the two points, the bureau said.
It said there would be two types of service, express and local, which would alternate throughout the day. The fare for both services is to be the same, although the exact figure has not yet been decided, the bureau said.
Each train is to have a capacity of 855 passengers and 5,200kg of luggage, according to the bureau.
The ticketing system on the line would support all types of public transportation cards currently in use, including Taipei’s EasyCard, the bureau said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is
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