Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) on Wednesday defended new subway cars for the Wenhu (Brown) Line that remove most seating in the hopes of increasing capacity on the perennially crowded line.
Taipei Rapid Transit Corp on Tuesday began trials of an updated interior design for the older VAL256 rolling stock, which removes the 12 seats from the center while keeping the eight priority seats at the ends.
During the trial, only two of the four carriages have been changed.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Rapid Transit Corp
The company estimates the change would raise capacity from 400 to 420 passengers per train.
It follows another alteration to the newer BT370 rolling stock in January that removed some seating and luggage racks.
The design attracted criticism from some city councilors, who after trialing the new carriages on Wednesday said the design was unfriendly.
Removing most of the seats is inconvenient to elderly people and those in need, Taipei City Councilor Ho Meng-hua (何孟樺) wrote on Facebook, adding that it was “treating the symptoms rather than the cause” of congestion.
The main reasons people cite for not wanting to ride the Brown Line aside from inconvenience is a lack of seating and crowding, she said, adding that the change would make people’s commute even less comfortable.
She also questioned whether the carriages were tested for the increased weight, as the Brown Line was not designed for such high capacity.
Ahead of a morning meeting with borough wardens, Chiang told reporters that the increased capacity would enable commuters to reach their destination faster during peak times.
The city government has been adopting every strategy to ease congestion, including building a new ring line to service the Neihu Science Park (內湖科技園區) — hopefully to begin construction within the next two years — and adding more trains during peak hours, he added.
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday. With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019. Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said. In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities. Hsinchu showed the
Environmental groups yesterday filed an appeal with the Executive Yuan, seeking to revoke the environmental impact assessment (EIA) conditionally approved in February for the Hsieh-ho Power Plant’s planned fourth liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving station off the coast of Keelung. The appeal was filed jointly by the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group, the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association and the Keelung City Taiwan Head Cultural Association, which together held a news conference outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei. Explaining the reasons for the appeal, Wang Hsing-chih (王醒之) of the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group said that the EIA failed to address
RSS