Taichung Railway Rapid Transit Systematization will be open to traffic by the end of October. The large platform on the 2nd floor of the new building of Taichung Station started to use today (1st) to make it more convenient for passengers to enter and exit the station. Articulated buses, taxis, and motor vehicles will be allowed to enter the transfer center on the 1st floor. Mayor Chia-Lung Lin said that Taichung City Government promotes “Taichung Grand Station Project” to connect railways, buses, and MRT through 3-dimentialization and shared-station-and-reroute, which not only changes the route and reorganizes the city’s space. Taichung Station will become the coordinate origin of traffic, people, goods, and money flow with railway economy driving economic development.

Mayor Lin accompanied by Director General of Transportation Bureau, Yichuan Wang, Head of Taiwan Railways Administration’s Taichung Transportation Branch, Zhenlin Su, Station Master of Taiwan Railways Administration’s Taichung Station, Renhe Ye, Railway Head of Bureau’s Central Region Office, Chunsheng Yang, District Executive of Central District, Zhiming Huang, District Executive of South District, Zhengguang Zhong, and District Executive of East District, Huiwen Jiang to inspect Taichung Station platform. City Councilors, Suzhen Qiu and Gongjin Zheng also attended the event.

Once the large platform on the 2nd floor of Taichung Station’s new building, passengers can enter the 2nd floor through the west side of the station without detouring from the east side, which reduces the walking time from 3 minutes to 1 and a half minutes. In addition, on October 11, three articulated buses to Taiwan Boulevard, Bus 300, Bus 309, and Bus 310, taxis, and motor vehicles will be able to enter the transfer center on the 1st floor below the large platform to provide safe and convenient transfer service.

“This year is the first year of Taichung Railway Rapid Transit Systematization!” Mayor Lin said Taichung City is born due to railway construction. The current Taichung Station not only contains the new 3rd-generation station but also reserved the 2nd-generation relic station. Even when the station was reconstructed, the 1st-generation station garage from Japanese colonization was found underground. This makes Taichung Station the one and only “3 Generation on One Site” station. In addition, with the development of the Great Taichung Yamanote Line, Taiwan Railways will also be transformed to shoulder the transportation responsibility of Central Taiwan’s Loop Railway. By combining high-speed rail and MRT, Taichung Station will become the coordinate origin of traffic, people, goods, and money flow. The next 100 years of Taichung will begin this year.

Mayor Lin also pointed out that Taichung Grand Station Project and Transfer Center Project has received subsidies from Central Government’s Prospects Program and become the largest TOD (Transit Oriented Development) in Taiwan. In addition, the result of the lawsuit case for the road development for Smart Building reveals that Taichung City Government won the case. Because the change of urban planning has been approved, the City Government will start land expropriation with the most premium price compensation to protect building owners’ rights and equity. City Government will work hard to develop Dazhi Road and connect the front and the back station as soon as it can. With the 3-dimentialization and shared-station-and-reroute, Taichung Grand Station will connect MRB & B public transportation system. Areas within a radius of one kilometer of Taichung Station will have prosperous economic development due to the railway. This will change not only the flow of people and vehicles but also the city’s space.

In addition to the opening of the large platform of Taichung Station, the 10 stations along the route of Taichung Railway Rapid Transit Systematization will start to use on October 31. Mayor Lin also said that City Government would host “2018 Taichung Old Town and Newcomer Fair” this month to present the city’s past and vision for the future. Every week there will be light and shade art festival, concerts, film screenings, and Chuan Chuan Market. Besides, the first phase of Taichung Overpass will open to the general public this month to let people feel the change of old towns.

Director General of Transportation Bureau, Mr. Wang said that to let transfer safer and more convenient for passengers, Taichung Station opened the large platform on the 2nd floor today to enable passengers to enter the station from Taiwan Boulevard and Jianguo Road. Through stairs and escalators to the large platform, passengers can enter the station with the reduced distance from 145 meters down to 85 meters and reduced the walking time from 3 minutes down to 1 and a half minutes.

With the use of the large platform, the transfer center on the 1st floor will be reopened on October 11 to let articulated buses, Line 300, Line 309, and Line 310 enter Platform A and B. The Taxi and temporary stop areas will be moved from the newly developed roadsides to Platform C and D. Vehicles leaving the station will go to the Exit Station from Wude Street to Bade Street. Stairs and elevators at Platform A, B, and C will take passengers to the 2nd floor so that passengers can enter and exit the station safely and quickly without passing through the traffic.

Director General of Transportation Bureau, Mr. Wang also explained that in addition to 5 stations, the other 5 stations of Taichung Railway Rapid Transit Systematization including Lilin, Tou Jia Cuo, Songzhu, Jingwu, and Wuquan had completed the construction. These stations are currently inspected by the Ministry of Transportation and Communication. A ceremony for starting to use the stations will be held at Wuquan Station in the morning on October 31. Once the train and train stations are opened officially, there will be one train every 10 minutes, which makes the railway with the convenience of MRT.

In addition, City Government actively communicated with Taiwan Railway Administration and Ministry of National Defense to integrate the municipal land that used to be Jianguo Market to propose “Taichung Grand Station Project” which will be developed by City Government. Through this project, three buildings including Taichung Transfer Center’s North Station and South Station as well as Gancheng Transfer Center will be built, and a connecting platform will be built too. The Taichung Grand Station will include not only a space of international creation base for young people but also 4,000 parking space for motor vehicles. In the future, Taiwan railways, buses, Shuanggang MRT, and MRT Blue Line will be connected at Taichung Grand Station.

According to Transportation Bureau, to help passengers accustomed to this adjustment of the stations, Transportation Bureau has already posted the announcement at the bus stop in ASEAN Square and also requested bus drivers to announce the information to passengers. Meanwhile, some relevant information brochures are available on the Transportation Bureau’s website and Taiwan Railway service stations. If you have any questions, please call 1999 for information. Transportation Bureau will also continue to observe the traffic and adjust the implementation and promotion as needed to reduce its impact on the traffic. In addition, the general public can take advantage of Taichung Bus App and Taichung Bus Information System to check instant information and know where the buses are.