Minor malfunctions and mixed reactions from passengers marked the first day of operations on Taipei City’s MRT Neihu Line yesterday.
The first train of the line was dispatched at 9am yesterday, taking Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and city government officials, employees of Taipei City’s Rapid Transit Department and other passengers from Nankang Exhibition Center Station to Taipei Zoo Station.
Hau thanked the staff at the department for their hard work over the past six years and invited the public to experience the new line.
PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUEI, TAIPEI TIMES
“The opening of the Neihu Line means that each of the 12 districts in Taipei City are covered by MRT lines, helping complete the MRT network in the city,” Hau said.
Travel time between the two stations took about 45 minutes yesterday. The doors of the cars failed to open immediately after the train arrived at MRT Xihu Station and Dahu Park Station, while some passengers complained that they were unable to enter the cars because the doors closed too quickly.
At about 10am, a train made a sudden stop between Xinhai Station and Linkuang Station for about 15 minutes before resuming service.
Hau said the train was equipped with automatic safety sensors and that it would stop if the sensors detected abnormalities.
The department later said the sudden stop was the result of a false alarm sent by the sensors.
Because of the narrow cars of the Neihu Line and the large crowd during the weekend, several MRT stations, including Zhongxiao Fuxing Station, were cramped with passengers waiting to use the service.
“The cars are too small. The city government should improve the situation. Otherwise similar problems will happen again,” a passenger who waited for more than 20 minutes to get on at Zhongxiao Fuxing Station said.
Some passengers who took luggage with them at MRT Songshan Airport Station also had difficulty entering the cramped cars.
Passenger Wang Wei-lun (王偉綸), a college student who waited in line at Neihu Station to take the first train, said the overall experience was good, but added that the cars were too narrow.
Another passenger, a 62-year-old woman surnamed Yang (楊), said the operation of the Neihu Line provided great convenience to local residents like her, but added that the volume of the broadcasting system inside the cars should be louder.
Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said the crowd inside the cars and in the stations should improve after the first three days of operation, adding that it would send more staff to ensure order at the stations.
The 14.8km line is a medium capacity system connecting the Muzha line’s Zhongshan Junior High School station to the Nankang line’s Taipei Nankang Exhibition Center. Aside from Songshan Airport station and Dazhi station, the entire Neihu line runs above ground.
In celebration of the opening of the Neihu Line, the city government encouraged the public to take the MRT using an EasyCard today and tomorrow at a discounted price.
People who take any MRT line during the three-day period will enjoy a 50 percent discount.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS