After the launch of the MRT Green Line last year, Taichung has officially become an MRT city. While having its overall MRT network approved by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) on April 15 last year, Taichung City also launched a comprehensive planning for the Blue Line, known as the City’s fifth MRT route and assessed the feasibility of the Green Line extension, Orange Line (airport), Blue Line extension (to Taiping) and Purple Line (the circular MRT line that covers Dali City, Taiping City, Wufeng Township and Wuri Township, collectively known as the “Tun District”). The proposals have been submitted to the central government for approval with the progress moving steadily forward. Under the overall traffic network structure, Taichung will continue to develop the MRT network and complete all routes.
Director General of the Transportation Bureau Yeh Chao-fu expresses that, to provide citizens with optimized transportation services and achieve the goal of “MRT for a wealthy and strong Taichung”, the Taichung City Government has been proactive in constructing an MRT network over the last four years. He says that Mayor Lu Shiow-yen has been listening to citizens’ words after taking office. Apart from accelerating the construction of MRT infrastructure, Lu also held public hearing sessions to collect opinions from the public, in order to optimize the planning and provide a high-quality transportation network that meets their needs.
Director Yeh says that, regarding the comprehensive planning of MRT Blue Line everyone cares about the most, the Taichung City Government already submitted a revised report to the central government on May 11 this year. On November 1, the Taichung City Government explained all details at a review committee meeting held by MOTC and received support and recognition from multiple committee members. The committee further recommended that the Taichung City Government elaborate on issues such as the allocations of budget appropriation and responsibility, estimation of transportation volume, selection of depot site, adjustments to urban planning, car transfer and sharing of depo, transit service, traffic flow planning for station surrounding areas, etc. The Taichung City Government will resubmit the report after correcting and optimizing the content, and will proactively cooperate with the committee to facilitate the review process, hoping that the Executive Yuan will approve the construction of Blue Line so that the Blue Line will start operation as soon as possible.
In addition, the MRT Green Line extension feasibility report was submitted to MOTC on June 22 and then forwarded to Executive Yuan for review. At the moment, the Taichung City Government is now updating the report content to incorporate review opinions and feedback, which were provided by the central government on September 2. Upon completion of the update, the Taichung City Government will submit a revised report to the central government for approval at the soonest possible time. As for the MRT Airport Line (Orange Line), after the central government held a preliminary meeting last year, the Taichung City Government already submitted a report to the central government on April 1. The proposal for MRT Purple Line was also submitted to MOTC on June 20 for review. At the moment, the Taichung City Government is now amending and supplementing the content of these two reports based on the central government’s feedback, and will cooperate with the central government in order to facilitate the review process and strive to obtain approvals without delay.
Director Yeh points out that Taichung City’s vision for MRT development already transformed from a single route to a cross route network with the Blue Line, and then to a multi-route network with the Airport MRT Line (Orange Line). After building the backbone of Taichung’s MRT network, the Green Line and Purple Line that covers “Tun District” will form a circular network to increase the scale of services and form a well-connected MRT network.
Director Yeh emphasizes that, in the future, the Taichung City Government will gradually realize its blueprint for building an MRT network that connects to the city’s land, air and sea transfer hubs (i.e., Taichung THSR station, Taichung Port and Taichung International Airport), Taichung City Industrial Park, Central Taiwan Science Park, Taichung Shuinan Economic and Trade Park, Taichung Software Park, and Wuri High Speed Rail Special Zone. That is, apart from connecting stores in the front end, factories in the back end, and the free economic zone, Taichung’s MRT network will also enhance urban and mountain-to-coastal transportation to provide citizens with comprehensive transportation solutions. The Taichung City Government also hopes that the convenience in transportation will create a flow of people and capital, facilitate logistics, and promote regional development.