The Ministry of Transportation and Communications on Thursday gave its approval for the first section of the Taipei MRT’s Circular Line (Yellow Line) to begin operations, pending a decision on an exact date to be made by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments.
The major improvements it ordered have been completed following its final inspection on Jan. 5 of the Zhong Huan (Central Circle) section, the ministry said.
The section can begin official operations whenever the city administrations decide, the ministry said.
Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Government
From tomorrow, people would be allowed free rides on the section daily from 10am to 4pm, New Taipei City Department of Transit Systems head Lee Cheng-an (李政安) said.
The 15.4km section, which comprises 14 stations, connects Dapinglin Station on the Songshan-Xindian Line (Green Line) in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) to the New Taipei Industrial Park A3 Station on the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Line in Sinjhuang District (新莊) via Jhonghe (中和) and Banciao (板橋) districts.
The line is expected to ease congestion at transfer stations, because people would be able to bypass Taipei.
The section also connects to the Zhonghe-Xinlu Line (Orange Line) at Jingan Station in Jhonghe and the Bannan Line (Blue Line) at Banciao and Xinpu Minsheng stations, as well as Taiwan Railways Administration and High-Speed Rail services at Banciao.
The section was scheduled to begin operations last month, but it missed that target because the ministry did not carry out its final inspection until Jan. 5.
After the inspection, the ministry listed 21 issues that needed to be addressed, six of which had to be completed before formal operations could begin.
On Wednesday, it said that the six issues had been fixed.
The first section is the only elevated segment of the Circular Line, with the other three to be built underground.
Construction has not yet started on the line’s Nan Huan (South Circle) section, Bei Huan (North Circle) and Dong Huan (East Circle) sections.
The second phase of the project is to begin next year to build the 14.93km Bei Huan section, comprising 12 stations and one depot, and the 5.73km Nan Huan section, which is to have six stations, the Taipei City Department of Rapid Transit Systems said.
The Bei Huan section is expected to make travel more convenient to Wugu (五股), Lujhou (蘆洲) and Sanchong (三重) districts in New Taipei City and Shilin District (士林) in Taipei, while the Nan Huan section is to connect Sindian to Taipei’s Wenshan District (文山), with the final stop at Taipei Zoo Station on the Wenhu Line (Brown Line).
Construction of the Dong Huan section, which has been approved by the National Development Council, is likely to start in 2023 to connect to the Tamsui-Xinyi (Red Line), Bannan, Songshan-Xindian and Wenhu lines in Taipei’s east.
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