The second line of the Danhai Light Rail Transit system is likely to bypass the popular tourist spot of Tamsui Old Street (淡水老街) and run along the Tamsui River (淡水河) due to opposition from local residents, the New Taipei City Department of Rapid Transit Systems said on Tuesday.
The Blue Seaside Line, which is under construction, is to start at MRT Tamsui Station and join the completed Green Mountain Line at Binhai Shalun Station, it said.
The Blue Seaside Line was originally to be separated into two single tracks in either direction, instead of a single double-track design for most parts between MRT Tamsui Station and Station V23, near Fort San Domingo, the department said.
Photo: CNA
That would allow one track to run through Tamsui Old Street, while the other would run along Provincial Highway 2b, it said.
The two tracks were to converge near Station V23 and extend westward to Tamsui Fisherman’s Wharf Station next to the highway, it added.
However, local residents have opposed introducing the light rail to the old street since last year, due to noise and environmental concerns, as well as the inconvenience that would be caused for parking and product loading.
At a meeting between the city government and local residents on Monday, complementary measures were initiated, including road renovation and construction of underground parking lots for motorcycles.
However, residents remain opposed to the idea, leading to a plan in which there would not be any separation of the double tracks, the department said.
The entire line is to be built alongside the river, bypassing the old street and the highway, it said.
The city government is expected to approve the new plan soon, the department said, adding that construction could start next year and be completed in 2024 as scheduled.
The four-line light-rail system started operations in 2018 after the completion of the Green Mountain Line and is also to include the Bali and Sanzhi lines, which are still in the planning stages.
The Blue Seaside Line’s first phase, which has three stops — Taipei University of Marine Technology, Shalun and Tamsui Fisherman’s Wharf — has almost been completed, the city government said.
The budget for the system, including a second phase to extend the Blue Seaside Line to six more stations along the river between Fisherman’s Wharf and MRT Tamsui Station, totals NT$15.3 billion (US$506 million).
The system is part of the development of the 1,748.7 hectare Danhai New Town, which was launched in 1992 with the aim of attracting 300,000 residents by 2036.
The electric streetcars travel on their own tracks, but share the road with other vehicles and must obey standard traffic regulations, including stopping at red lights.
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
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
A pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today. The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back
RSS