Construction began yesterday of the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit System's Hsinyi line (信義線).
A ground-breaking ceremony, attended by officials of the city government and Taipei City councilors took place at the site of a new station on the rout of the line between Sungchi Road (松智路) intersection and Chuangchin Road (莊敬路).
The new station is scheduled to be completed by the end of September, 2009, according to the city's Department of Rapid Transit Systems (DORTS).
The new station will be named the World Trade Center station. It is close to the World trade Center and the Taipei 101 building.
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and DORTS' Director Fan Liang-hsiu (范良鏽) both attended the ground-breaking ceremony as well as the general manager of the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), Richard Chen (陳椿亮) and KMT Legislator Mu Ming-chu (穆閩珠).
According to transportation officials, the MRT station, with a budget of NT$1.6 billion, will be constructed underground with four exits.
The World Trade Center station is among seven stations that will make up the 6.4km long Hsinyi line, said Chang Hui-chen (張慧珍), a public relations official at the department.
"The Hsinyi Line will start from with the existing Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall station," she said. "Aside from the World Trade Center station, other stations [along the Hsinyi line] will include ones near Ta-an Forest Park, Ta-an Road, Anho Road, Dongmen Market with Hsiangshen being the last station."
The Hsinyi line, running along Hsinyi Road, will be the second MRT line designed to run west-east after the Nankang line (南港線).
Although the Executive Yuan approved construction of the line in 1997, it had been delayed due to financial difficulties, Chang said.
The entire budget for the Hsinyi line is estimated at NT$44.5 billion, Chang said.
"In order to accommodate the current on-going construction of the Taipei 101 building, we've decided to push for the construction of the World Trade Center station now to avoid inconvenience to the surrounding traffic due to digging of the area a second time around [after the Taipei 101 building is finished]," she said.
Typhoon Usagi yesterday had weakened into a tropical storm, but a land warning issued by the Central Weather Administration (CWA) was still in effect in four areas in southern Taiwan. As of 5pm yesterday, Tropical Storm Usagi was over waters 120km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost tip of Taiwan proper, and was moving north at 9kph, CWA data showed. The storm was expected to veer northeast later yesterday. It had maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126kph, the data showed. The CWA urged residents of Kaohsiung, Pingtung County, Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) to remain alert to
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