Department of Rapid Transit Systems

Highly anticipated by the public in Taipei City and New Taipei City, the construction of the Circular line north section & south section has reached a new milestone!  On the morning of March 18 at Wuhua Elementary School in Sanchong District, New Taipei City, the groundbreaking ceremony for North Section contract CF680B construction was held.  The ceremony was co-hosted by Taipei City Mayor Chiang Wan-an and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi, and distinguished guests from all sectors of central and local governments were invited to pray together for a smooth construction and successful completion of the project according to schedule and at a high-quality standard.    

DORTS First District Project Office (1^st DPO), which is responsible for this section of the project, pointed out that section contract CF680B spans a total length of 3.23km, and the contract was awarded to Hwang Chang Construction Co., in December of last year with a bid of over NT$17.3 billion. 1^st DPO explained that the construction of this section commences at Station Y20 (not included) on Zhongshan 1^st Rd. in Luzhou District, and shield-tunneling method will be utilized
for the construction. It proceeds to Station Y21 at the intersection of Jixian Rd. and Zhongshan 1^st Rd. in Luzhou District where transfers can be made at St. Ignatius High School Station on the Zhonghe-Xinlu line.  It then continues northbound on Jixian Rd. to Station Y22, which is adjacent to Sanchong Jixian Environmental Protection Park, and then onward to the final station, Y23, in front of Wuhua Elementary School. The scale of the construction of this section is enormous with a high level of difficulty; however, the DORTS team will overcome one challenge after another. 

In his speech, Mayor Chiang mentioned that under the diligent efforts of the city government team following section contract CF680C for the North Depot, this section contract is the second civic work to have commenced on the Circular line north section & south section. Immediately afterwards, bidding was successfully awarded for South Section contract CF670A from Taipei Zoo to National Chengchi University with construction set to commence in June. It is hoped that predicaments in the other five section contracts will be quickly resolved so that it will be possible to issue the contracts as soon as possible to enable Circular line Phase II construction to go into full swing and for the objective of constructing a full ring Taipei MRT route network to be achieved as soon as possible!

Taipei DORTS explained that the capital city MRT Circular line traverses Taipei City and New Taipei City, and the entire line is divided into the following four sections: Phase I, the South Section, the North Section, and the East Section. Phase I was opened for operations on January 31, 2020, and currently bidding for construction of the south and north sections of Phase II is underway for eight civil engineering section contracts and one electromechanical system contract. Central approval is still pending for the East Section, and afterwards design and construction can be implemented.

Following the completion of the north section, the travel time between Taipei City and New Taipei City will be significantly reduced. For instance, the travel time of 33 minutes from St. Ignatius High School Station to Jiannan Station will be reduced to 18 minutes, the original travel time of 30 minutes to reach Shilin Station will be reduced to 12 minutes, and only 8 minutes will be required to travel to New Taipei Industrial Park Station. The convenience of the MRT route network will greatly increase the public’s willingness to ride on it, and it will also reduce the use of private transportation. This will not only solve traffic problems in Taipei City and New Taipei City, but also contribute to energy saving and carbon reduction. 

Mayor Chiang Wan-an stated that location of the section contract CF680B construction is in an
important thoroughfare between Taipei City and New Taipei City, and the construction units
are required to provide adequate guidance of ground traffic in order to avoid traffic congestion
caused by construction of route sections. Furthermore, they are required to be good neighbors and maintain positive interactions with residents living along the route. Mayor Chiang also stated that he realizes that the construction of MRT projects can be quite arduous, and in addition to expressing gratitude to the construction company and to the DORTS colleagues for their diligent efforts, he also specially requested that people living along the line who are subjected to inconveniences and impacts caused during the construction period to be understanding and tolerant and expressed his hopes of securing their support and cooperation.

DORTS further elaborated, stating that in the future the capital city Circular line will successively connect seven MRT lines which are currently in operation, and at 14 of the stations there will be MRT, light rail, train, high speed railway, and airport MRT transfers. DORTS emphasized that the convenience, comfort, and punctuality of the entire Circular line will significantly reduce commuting time, broaden the horizon of life, improve quality of living, and facilitate the balanced development of districts in Taipei City and New Taipei City.