The Mass Rapid Transit system’s (MRT) Neihu and Muzha lines were completely suspended following a system failure last Friday. This incident has highlighted not only a problem with the MRT system, but more importantly, the fact that the government’s decisions on infrastructure investment are often unwise and have an adverse impact on the nation.
The source of the MRT malfunction is the problematic system integration of the Muzha Line and the newly opened Neihu Line — the first MRT system in the world that combines two different operating systems. The two lines were completed 13 years apart. Theoretically speaking, this case required a “smart settlement.”
A so-called smart settlement must be built on an effective understanding of the direction in which a situation is changing and of future requirements. It must be market-oriented rather than manufacturing-oriented. In a rapid, diverse and changing knowledge-based economy, such a concept is especially important.
The system integration of the Muzha and Neihu lines is an example of an unwise decision by the Taipei City Government. The experience in advanced countries shows that similar cases have been settled by replacing the old system with a new one. Taipei, however, did the exact opposite. That was because the city’s decision-makers are stuck in a manufacturing-oriented mindset. Moreover, to keep costs at a minimum and because of a limited budget, they chose to integrate new and old systems.
The government should have made the decision based on the direction of district development in Taipei and the growth of future market demand. The resident and mobile population of Neihu District is double that of Muzha. In addition, the Neihu Technology Park, the Nangang Software Park and the Nangang Exhibition Hall combined will attract more people than the Maokong Gondola and Taipei City Zoo. Thus the Neihu Line should have been a high-capacity system. Instead, Taipei chose to accommodate the medium-capacity system of the Muzha Line.
In the long run, the Muzha and Neihu lines will connect to the Banqiao/Nangang (blue) Line, the Xinyi/Tamsui (red) Line, the Songshan/Xindian (green) Line and the proposed Minsheng-Xizhi Line. When these lines are completed, the Neihu Line will have to deal with even higher passenger volume.
The malfunction of the Muzha and Neihu lines serves as a warning for what is to come. It mirrors the fact that many of the government’s infrastructure projects suffer from a frugality and willingness to cut corners that belong to a past era fraught with economic problems, as well as short-term populist thinking and booty-sharing. The unwise decisions these attitudes lead to are everywhere to be seen, and the catastrophic costs that will result from these decisions will haunt us forever.
Bert Lim is president of the World Economic Society.
TRANSLATED BY TED YANG
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of
RSS