Amid high winds and occasional rain caused by Typhoon Muifa passing to the east of Taiwan, the Bureau of High Speed Rail (BHSR) held a ceremony yesterday to celebrate the completion of the elevated section of a new metro line that will connect Taipei with Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
Construction of the 51km-long MRT Airport Line’s main structure has been finished, BHSR officials announced. Now the project enters a new stage in which the installation of electronic systems will take place.
Barring any glitches, the long-anticipated metro system will be able to start commercial services by June 2013.
Photo: CNA
The MRT Airport Line, one of the government’s 10 Major National Construction Projects, starts from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 2, extends eastward to Terminal 1, and passes through townships in Taoyuan County and districts of New Taipei City (新北市), including Linkou (林口), Gueishan (龜山), Sinjhuang (新莊), Taishan (泰山) and Sanchong (三重), before entering Taipei City.
The line also reaches southward through Taoyuan’s high-speed rail station to Jhongli City (中壢).
It consists of 22 stations, of which 15 are elevated and seven are underground, with two maintenance depots. The elevated section stretches for 40km.
The Airport Line connects key transport hubs in northern Taiwan, including the Taipei Main Station, Taoyuan High-Speed Railway Station and the airport, as well as Taipei City’s metro network.
The NT$113.85 billion (US$3.9 billion) project brings together international air and domestic traffic services, BHSR said.
BHSR officials added that one of the project’s unique features is the elevated section crossing National Highway No. 1, which sports v-shaped bridge piers. The bridge, spanning 279m, enables a broad visual field for drivers on the highway, officials said, calling the flyover a landmark structure.
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
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