The government aims to build 16 railway stations meeting PAS 2080 international carbon emission standards in the next 10 years, with the goal of reducing emissions in railway constructions and stations by 50 percent by 2050, the Railway Bureau said yesterday.
The 16 stations are: eight in Taoyuan, one in Changhua County, three in Tainan and four in Chiayi County, the bureau said.
The new underground Tainan Railway Station, which is scheduled to begin operations by the end of this year, would be the first of the 16 stations to do so.
Photo courtesy of the Railway Bureau
The new Tainan Railway Station was designed with the frequent solar exposure and climate in southern Taiwan in mind and would have a large atrium to maximize natural daylight and ventilation, the bureau said.
“It also features a rainwater harvesting system and high-efficiency mechanical and electrical equipment, significantly reducing operational energy consumption,” it said.
The underground station would also reconnect urban areas in its vicinity long divided by surface tracks and eliminate substantial carbon emissions caused by vehicles idling at level crossings along the route, the bureau said, adding that it would become a new landmark driving sustainable development in southern Taiwan.
The bureau said that it aims to reach its carbon emission goal by reducing embodied carbon and lowering operational carbon emissions in railway projects.
Meanwhile, railway constructions with high carbon emissions, including bridges and tunnels, would be monitored using an “allowable carbon emissions” mechanism, it said.
Design and construction teams of railway projects would be advised to use low-carbon concrete, electric arc furnace steel reinforcement and prefabricated automated construction methods, under the condition that they would not compromise safety of railway structure and operations, it said.
Citing the extended railway bridge project in Chiayi, the bureau said it has reduced carbon emissions to 188,925 tonnes from 244,723 tonnes.
Designs of the 16 new railway stations have mostly been completed and are subject to structural modifications due to constraints in site conditions, it said.
The carbon footprint of the stations would be monitored using four major green certification systems, the Green Building Label, the Building Energy-Efficiency Rating System, the Low-Carbon Building Label and the Intelligent Building Label.
“We would use these certification systems to accurately identify room for energy conservation in existing railway stations to fine-tune and optimize the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, as well as lighting layout and operational models,” the bureau said.
It said that before reducing carbon emissions by 50 percent in 2050, it would strive to cut the emissions by 20 percent in 2030 and 40 percent in 2040.
Separately, Taiwan International Airport Corp and CPC Corp, Taiwan yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding on preservation of biodiversity to jointly build natural habitats for little terns, butterflies and other wildlife in Taoyuan, New Taipei City and Keelung.
The little tern is a Category II protected species and a summer migratory bird. Its breeding season is from April to August.
The Taoyuan refinery butterfly habitat restoration project promotes the conservation of valuable species such as the golden birdwing butterfly through the planting of host plants and nectar plants that support their lifecycle and ecological recovery, Taiwan International Airport Corp said.
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