The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) on Thursday approved plans for the Tainan MRT, which is slated to start construction in 2026 and commence operations in 2031.
The ministry’s committee convened to review the initial phase of the Tainan MRT Blue Line — which would connect the city’s railway network and technology park — and approved the MRT system design, cost, route, evacuation planning and other details, the Tainan Bureau of Transportation said, adding that the Tainan City Government would revise the plans and submit a final proposal to the ministry, which it then would submit to the Executive Yuan for further assessment.
The Blue Line would be a cornerstone of the city’s MRT network, with future lines connecting key areas, bolstering Tainan’s status as a technological hub, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said.
Photo courtesy of the Tainan Style Facebook group
It is to span 8.93km and traverse Yongkang (永康), East (東區) and Rende (仁德) districts, featuring 10 stations and a maintenance facility, Bureau Director-General Wang Ming-te (王銘德) said, adding that the project also passed a review by a Ministry of Environment task force on Feb. 23.
He also said that the ministry plans to hold a review meeting to discuss the future development of the Dark Green, Red and Green lines in the city, aiming to enhance Tainan’s MRT infrastructure.
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
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