The Taichung MRT reached its new milestone! On the 24th, the commission meeting for the initial inspection of the Green Line of Taichung MRT was convened at Beitun Machinery Factory. The Taichung City Government proposed the plan for initial inspection and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) attended and gave advice. Experts and scholars with initial MRT inspection experiences were invited as commissioners for the initial inspection. Reports on construction, operations and traffic control measures adopted for the surrounding areas were given first by the Taipei City MRT Engineering Bureau, the Taichung MRT Corporation, and the Transportation Bureau of the Taichung City Government while the commissioners confirmed the compliance of civil engineering, electrical and mechanical work, and operating conditions for the initial inspection one by one and were approved officially for the commencement construction on August 7th. Director General of the Transportation Bureau, Yeh Chao-Fu, said in order to speed up the operating schedule of the Taichung MRT, on July 21st, after being notified by the Taipei City Government and the Taichung MRT Corporation of the successful completion of seven operating requirements before the initial inspection, the Bureau on the 24th immediately convened the initial inspection meeting to set up the operations, machinery and electricity, and civic engineering groups. On the initial inspection day, an overall inspection was planned to review passenger transit at each station, arrival and departure at each station and other relevant services. The "Electrical and Mechanical" group, respectively, tested the machine rooms, track equipment and electrical train facilities while the "Civic Engineering" group inspected sites including hardware facilities, corridors, lifts and barrier free facilities at the stations. Commissioners proposed items for drills to make full preparation for overall disaster response work of the Green Line of Taichung MRT. Director General Yeh emphasized that all commissioners at the meeting approved the preparation work of the Green Line of the MRT system. At present, according to 3.1 of "the Points Governing Inspection of the Mass Transportation System," after the completion of the civil engineering, track and electrical and mechanical construction was confirmed, on June 11th, the system stability test was approved to officially acquire relevant safety certification of ticketing, emergency evacuation and safety protection measures. The ticketing system was tested to have normal operations and the relevant personnel of MRT operations were presented for enacting the necessary rules of civil engineering, electrical and mechanical and operations. The train operating plan was proposed and reports on independence and confirmation of the electrical and mechanical system were submitted to ensure the safety of full operations of the Green Line that can be trusted by residents in Taichung. "The commencement of the Green Line operations of the MRT is the biggest event in Taichung this year!" said the Transportation Bureau. The Bureau mobilizes its staff for the preparation before the commencement of operations. In addition to the incorporation with the Taipei City Government and the Taichung MRT Corporation, for the surrounding environment of each station, bus lines will be adjusted and iBike stops and parking lots will be added accordingly. There are plans for bus stopping areas, kiss and ride areas for passenger cars and taxi stop areas with the full efforts to provide residents in Taichung with a comfortable and convenient public transportation environment that allows them to travel anywhere in Taichung.