Taipei City's Department of Rapid Transit Systems signed an agreement yesterday with Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries to build 55 electrical multiple units (EMUs) for the city's mass rapid transit (MRT) systems.
After fierce competition among major bidders, including France's Aston Martin, Germany's Siemens, Japan's Mitsubishi, Bombardier from Cananda and South Korea's Hyundai since early this year, Kawasaki won the NT$15.2 billion (US$447 million) contract to build the 55 EMUs, which will comprise a total of 321 carriages.
The EMUs must be delivered between Oct. 1, 2005 and April 1, 2009 in five shipments. The new carriages will be used on existing MRT lines as well as several new MRT lines scheduled for completion between 2008 and 2009, including the Pitan branch line, the Hsinchuang-Luchou line and the extended section of the Nankang-Panchiao line.
Lee Wen-tsai (李文才), director of the department's electrical and engineering branch, who inked the contract with Kawasaki officials on behalf of the department, denied allegations that Kawasaki won the contract by offering an "unreasonably low price."
Instead, Lee said, Kawasaki offered a "reasonable price" for the contract.
He also said that Kawasaki was awarded the contract because of other reasons, including the fact that the carriages to be used in the proposed high-speed railway system will also be provided by Kawasaki and the existing EMUs used on the MRT Tamshui line were built by Kawasaki -- factors that made the new EMUs procurement pro-ject more financially economical and technically efficient.
According to Frank Fan, a director at the department, Kawasaki-built EMUs have been operating smoothly on the Tamshui line.
Noting that Bombardier had promised to have 163 out of the 202 carriages to be used on the Neihu line assembled by Taiwanese sub-contractors, Fan said Kawasaki has been asked to offer an offset plan as part of the contract as required by the Ministry of Economic Affairs' "industrial technologically cooperation" requirements.
Kawasaki has agreed to have about half of the 321 carriages assembled in Taiwan.
Takehiko Saeki, executive vice president of Kawasaki Heavy Industries promised that shipments of the Kawasaki-built EMUs will be delivered on time, or ahead of schedule.
Saeki said his Kawasaki team will present an offset plan within one year to allow Taiwanese sub-contractors to assemble half of the new carriages, while opening 20 percent of the parts and components purchases to Taiwanese suppliers.
READY: The CGA said it closely monitored China’s maritime exercise, deployed vessels to shadow the Chinese ships one-on-one and set up emergency response centers Chinese navy and coast guard ships have returned to China, signaling the end of a massive maritime exercise, authorities said yesterday. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) released images it said showed Chinese vessels sailing north in rough seas past Taiwan on Thursday, on their way to China. “All the Chinese coast guard went back to China yesterday, so although they have not officially made any announcement, we consider it over,” CGA Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said. Beijing has not confirmed the drills and the Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not say whether the maneuvers had taken place when asked at a
People can take the Taipei MRT free of charge if they access it at Nanjing Sanmin Station or Taipei Arena Station on the Green Line between 12am and 6am on Jan. 1, the Taipei Department of Transportation said on Friday, outlining its plans to ease crowding during New Year’s events in the capital. More than 200,000 people are expected to attend New Year’s Eve events in Taipei, with singer A-mei (張惠妹) performing at the Taipei Dome and the city government’s New Year’s Eve party at Taipei City Hall Plaza, the department said. As people have tended to use the MRT’s Blue or
PUBLIC TRANSPORT: As some roads would be fully or partially closed, people are advised to take the MRT, with services expanded to accommodate more riders This year’s Taipei Marathon, which has obtained its first gold label certification from World Athletics, is to be held from 5am to 1pm tomorrow and would have 28,000 participants. The race is to start from the Taipei City Plaza and would go through major roads throughout the city, with traffic control implemented from 6am to 2pm, officials said. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system and New Taipei City MRT Circle line would start operating at 5am on the day of the race, they said. The race would cover Renai Road, Xinyi Road, Hangzhou S Road, Aiguo east and west roads,
Taiwanese professional baseball should update sports stadiums and boost engagement to enhance fans’ experience, Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview on Friday. The league has urged Farglory Group and the Taipei City Government to improve the Taipei Dome’s outdated equipment, including relatively rudimentary television and sound systems, and poor technology, he said. The Tokyo Dome has markedly better television and sound systems, despite being 30 years old, because its managers continually upgraded its equipment, Tsai said. In contrast, the Taipei Dome lacked even a room for referees
RSS