The one-month free trial service on the Taipei MRT Luzhou Line ended yesterday, following mostly positive public reviews, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said.
Construction on the line began in 2002 and includes 11 stations. According to statistics, the new 12.5km line has lifted the MRT’s current average daily total of 1.41 million passenger trips to around 1.57 million, which TRTC said was in line with its expectations.
In the first three weeks of service, 3.05 million passenger trips were recorded on the Luzhou Line, TRTC said.
Unlike the Wenhu Line, which has been plagued by glitches since it started operation in July last year, the Luzhou Line has proved to be stable and reliable and no major malfunctions were reported over the past month, according to TRTC.
“The two cases are very different,” a TRTC official said, referring to the Alstom transport system that is used not only on the Luzhou Line, but also in most of the Taipei MRT network, while the Wenhu Line uses a hybrid system, combining work by Matra of France and Bombardier of Canada, which has been blamed for its frequent glitches.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
Firefighters are working to put out a fire on Taipei’s Yangmingshan (陽明山) reported earlier this morning. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. The Taipei Fire Department said it received a report of a fire at Xiaoyoukeng (小油坑) at 11:17am, dispatching four command vehicles, 16 firetrucks, one ambulance and 72 personnel. The fire is still burning on about 250m² of land, according to initial estimates, as eyewitnesses reported seeing smoke rising from the mountain. The Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters on Facebook said the Qixingshan (七星山) hiking trail starting from Xiaoyoukeng and the Xiaoyoukeng parking lot are closed as firefighters work to put