Department of Rapid Transit Systems

“Taipei MRT Wanda line Phase II Construction Investor Solicitation Explanatory Meeting” was held on the morning of January 26, 2021, in the Taipei City DORTS Briefing Room with 15 foreign and domestic manufacturers in attendance. The Ethics Office of DORTS 2^nd District Project Office was also in attendance. Prior to the commencement of the meeting, a political ethics promotional film with the theme of corporate integrity was played to convey the Taipei City Government’s policy of incorruptibility and integrity.

The Wanda line Phase II construction civil engineering contract is divided into two section contracts, CQ880 and CQ890. Section contract CQ880 is a continuation of Wanda line Phase I construction, of which the construction site starts from Section 3, Jincheng Rd., Tucheng District, New Taipei City to Xicheng Rd, Banqiao District. The total length of CQ880 construction is 6.66 km, of which 2.84 km is underground and the rest 3.82 km is elevated. The former includes two underground stations and three shield tunnel sections; for the latter, three elevated stations, four viaduct sections, and one substation are in the plan. During the construction design period, several improvement measurements have already been considered elaborately: the streamlining of the depth of the diaphragm walls and the length of the foundation piles, the station spaces, and standardization of the architectural materials, in favor of construction and maintenance.The pipelines are mainly protected on site, with an aim to shorten the construction period.The sewage pipes which conflict with the shield tunnels and the box culverts which conflict with the elevated section foundation piles will first be relocated in order to facilitate construction progress. The contract for a preliminary excavation to Zhanlongshan Historic Site will be issued in advance in order to reduce the risk of destruction of the site. The construction exterior interface, including traffic maintenance and land-use coordination, will first be carefully considered, then the order of construction will be arranged for the purpose of ensuring the feasibility of the construction methods and plans, and the facilitation of work progress.

Section contract CQ890 starts from Xicheng Rd., Banqiao District, where it connects with section contract CQ880, and ends at Huilong Station at Zhongzheng Rd., Xinzhuang District. The total length of section contract CQ890 is approximately 6.56 km, and all sections are elevated with a total of eight elevated stations and eight viaduct sections. The construction features a modularized configuration of the station spaces and harmonized building materials so that construction and maintenance work can be implemented conveniently. A temporary dike will be built before the existing double-hole box culvert is dismantled. A work of preliminary excavation will be carried out for Gouteishan Historic Site, and the 69KV overhead line will be relocated underground beneath the sidewalk in order to reduce the impact of the excavation of the substructure. All of these measures aim to reduce construction path conflicts and save construction time. Other measures, such as U-beam precast fields provided by proprietors, traffic maintenance on special sections, and traffic re-routing planning for large areas, have also been carefully considered in order to ensure that project construction proceeds smoothly.

At the meeting, Director Chen, from DORTS 2^nd District Project Office, stated that DORTS is currently in the process of detailed design for Wanda line Phase II construction and has put foreseeable problems into consideration. For these problems, DORTS has come up with reasonable solutions. By doing so, a smooth execution can be expected during the construction period. Also, the two section contracts will be awarded to the tenderers whose tenders are the most advantageous, in the hope of selecting the top manufacturers at reasonable prices.

The preparatory tasks for Wanda line Phase II construction are currently in progress, and the tender documents of section contract CQ880 and CQ890 are scheduled to be made open in February 2021 and March 2021, respectively. If the contracts are to be awarded as scheduled, the construction works will commence in June 2021 and July 2021, respectively. After completion of the construction, the east end of the Wanda line Phase II construction will connect with the phase I construction of the same line at Zhonghe Senior High School Station, and its northwest end will connect with the Xinzhuang line and the brown line of Taoyuan MRT for transferring at Huilong Station, which will form a comprehensive MRT network in the Greater Taipei Metropolitan Area, and the neighboring cities around Taipei can be better connected, so as to enhance regional accessibility and improve the overall urban transportation efficiency.