The New Taipei City Government yesterday completed its initial inspection of the new MRT Sanying Line, taking a major step toward its goal of beginning operations by the middle of this year.
Following an on-site review, a committee of 16 experts outlined five items requiring improvement prior to the final inspection, 17 items for general improvement and 13 items for subsequent improvement, the city said.
The New Taipei City Department of Rapid Transit Systems and New Taipei Metro Corp are to implement the required improvements as quickly as possible and expect to apply to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications for a final operational inspection early next month, it said.
Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Department of Rapid Transit Systems
The transit company said the review process encompassed question-and-answer briefings, document reviews, on-site equipment checks and emergency simulation drills.
Emergency exercises included a simulated "fire and loss of power" situation aboard a train traveling between Yingge Station and Ceramics Old Street Station, the company said.
Personnel successfully carried out passenger evacuations and train-towing procedures to the satisfaction of the committee, it added.
Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Public Works Department
The Sanying Line is a medium-capacity system spanning 14.29km with 12 stations connecting the city's Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽) and Yingge (鶯歌) districts, department Director Lee Cheng-an (李政安) said.
The route begins at Dingpu Station, where passengers can transfer to the Taipei MRT’s Blue Line, and terminates at Yingtao Fude Station, Lee said.
Once operational, the line is expected to cut the commute time between the Sanying area and Taipei by about 20 minutes, Lee said, adding that it would also boost local tourism by connecting attractions such as the New Taipei City Art Museum, Yingge Ceramics Old Street and Sansia Old Street.
To prepare for the line's opening, the department said it has been surveying traffic infrastructure around the new stations.
The city plans to add 16 new YouBike stations with a total of 807 docks along the route, along with 38 temporary parking spaces, 18 taxi stands, 188 bicycle parking spots and 1,429 scooter parking spaces, the department said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
RSS