Department of Rapid Transit Systems

The MRT is the most important municipal construction in Taipei City. Mayor Ko Wen-je in the afternoon of March 14 visited Wanda line Jiala Station where shield machine drilling operations will soon commence and expressed his concerns on the construction progress in order to provide comfort and encouragement to colleagues for their hard work in carrying out excavation deep underground and also to express affirmation to the construction team. After listening to the briefing, Mayor Ko stated that numerous challenges and coordination interfaces have been encountered during Wanda line underground construction. Nevertheless, the quality of MRT construction is excellent and world-class, and he believes that with the high-quality construction ability and technology of the MRT construction team, the project is bound to be completed on schedule in 2025, accelerating the convenience of MRT metropolitan life in the capital city.
 
In his speech, Mayor Ko stated that in February 2017 he presided over the ceremony for the commencement of construction of the Taipei City section of Wanda line. The underground construction stage is fully underway with construction progress 3% ahead of schedule, and soon the peak period of structural construction will commence. The excavation depth of Jiala Station reaches up to 25 meters (approximately 8 stories), and in addition to overcoming challenges with the drainage box culverts and hanging public pipelines, following the assembly of the shield machine, drilling of the shield tunnel will commence in the direction of the next station, Yonghe Yong Ping Elementary School Station. The construction interface between the two stations is considerably complex with the tunnel construction reaching a length of 1,709m. Furthermore, the construction encountered with many obstacles while crossing Shuiyuan Expressway and the Xindian River bed, and following the completion of the tunnel, it will link together four other connecting transport channels.
 
Mayor Ko stated that Wanhua District was the earliest region to be developed in Taipei basin during modern times, and following a history of prosperity, it gradually fell silent as the center of urban development shifted eastward. In order to gradually realize the vision of urban regeneration, Taipei City Government is actively promoting urban renewal tasks, and MRT Wanda line is the engine of “Zhongzheng Wanhua Urban Regeneration Plan.” Step by step, the revitalization of the Western District and is being created through the integration of surrounding development projects in order to promote the transformation of traditional industries and increase industrial competitiveness. Currently, the promotion of the reconstruction project of the area surrounding Huazhong Bridge and First Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Market and Taipei Fish Market are smoothly underway. Through the consolidation of relevant plans for the surrounding areas along MRT Wanda line, the elegance of the old city will re-emerge. DORTS Second District Project Office (SDPO) stated that Jiala Station is adjacent to Dongyuan Elementary School with the land of Dongyuan Elementary School being utilized for stations entrances/exits; consequently, some of the Dongyuan Elementary School buildings have been demolished, and a joint construction building with two underground levels and six above-ground levels has been redesigned. Basement excavations are currently underway, and the base structure of the joint-construction building is set to be completed by the end of this year with construction expected to be completed in 2023. In the future, Donyuan Elementary School will have green buildings such as an indoor baseball batting field, swimming pool, and comprehensive stadium building and an underground parking lot in order to provide a baseball team with a long history at the school and a better learning environment for school children. SDPO said that in order to avoid impacting instruction at the school, some of the construction tasks will be implemented outside of class times. On the other hand, in order to beautify the construction environment, creations for children have been specially set up on construction fences as well as the “Today’s Easy Tour of Wanhua, Traditional and Innovative Arts and Entertainment, the Future 100 Years of Donyuan, and Hit the Ball High to Create More Good Results” paintings, which are full of good ideas in the style of Wanhua.
 
SDPO explained that Jiala Station is located beneath Wanda Rd. between Dongyuan St. and Changtai St., and it is a 3-level underground island-style platform station. With 4 entrances/exits, 2 obstacle-free elevators and 2 ventilation shafts, the station is 185 meters in length, 23 meters in width and 25 meters deep. The construction process is full of challenges, and in addition to crossing the Xindian River, with the connection channel located on the high beach, it was necessary for the construction team to adopt the caisson method for CP3 connecting channels and collection well constructions located outside the embankment, and the excavation depth reached 43 meters. During construction, they also encountered caisson geology which contained various problems such as small gravel and driftwood. To date the first shield tunnel machine was shipped to Keelung Port on September 14. The peak period of shield construction will soon commence, and the passing of foundation piles through the embankment will be an imminent construction challenge.