Another photo post for 5 this week. These come from the Formosa Boulevard station of Kaohsiung’s MRT subway system. Formosa Boulevard is the intersecting station for the two subway lines and features striking glass entrance spires and the colorful Dome of Light art installation inside. Enjoy.
Week three of the theme competition. For any newcomers to this, click on the theme link to see all the previous entries and the rules.
Kaohsiung port, Taiwan. The largest in Taiwan and sixth largest in the world, Kaohsiung port handled 10 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of cargo in 2007.
The Tour de Taiwan is a professional cycling race and is the tenth race on the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) 2007-08 Asian tour. UCI is the world governing body for professional cycling with headquarters in Switzerland. The 2008 Tour de Taiwan feaures eight stages, beginning with a 40 lap, 88km criterium around the Love River, Kaohsiung and ending with a 60km criterium in Taipei.
This years tour sees 98 riders representing20 teams from Asia, Europe, Australia and North America taking part. The full list of teams is
- Â Drapac Porsche Development Program Team
- Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis
- Giant Asia Racing Team
- Hong Kong Pro Cycling Team
- AISAN Racing Team
- Polygon Sweet Nice Racing Team
- Merida Europe Team
- Seoul City Cycling Team
- Malaysian National Team
- Team Type 1
- Team Skil-Shimano
- Ruiter Dakkapellen Wielerteam
- KFS Special Vehicles
- Japan National Team
- Jet Fuel Coffee Cycling Team
- Team Meitan Hompo-GDR
- e-MA Cycling Team
- Taichung County Team
- Kinan CCD Team
- MAO Asia Team
The stage featured some exciting racing, with Hong Kong Pro Cycling Team’s Kam Po Wong (黃金寶) taking out the stage in a time of 1:57:04 at an average speed of 45.102 km/h, with Japanese riders Takashi Miyazawa of Team Meitan Hompo-GDR and Taiji Nishitani of AISAN Racing Team finishing second and third.
The win saw Wong take the blue jersey as Asian winner, as well as the yellow jersey as overall leader. The green jersey for points winner went to John Murphy (USA) of Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis, and the white jersey for local rider was won by Po Hung Wu of the Kinan CCD Team.
Overall Results
1 Kam Po Wong (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling Team        1.57.04 (45.102 km/h)
2 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Team Meitan Hompo-GDR
3 Taiji Nishitani (Jpn) AISAN Racing Team
4 Mroz Mateusz (Pol) Merida Europe Team
5 Misbah Muhamad Rauf Nur (Mas) Malaysian National Team
6 Kirk O’bee (USA) Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis
7 John Murphy (USA) Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis
8 Seon Ho Park (Kor) Seoul City Cycling Team
9 Lofflerstefan (Ger) Giant Asia Racing Team
10 Daniele Defranceschi (Can) Jet Fuel Coffee Cycling Team
General Classification after Stage One
1 Kam Po Wong (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling Team                     1.56.54
2 John Murphy (USA) Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis   0.01
3 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Team Meitan Hompo-GDRÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 0.02
4 Taiji Nishitani (Jpn) AISAN Racing Team                             0.05
5 Emile Abraham TR1 Team Type 1Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 0.06
6 Lofflerstefan (Ger) Giant Asia Racing Team                          0.09
7 Erik Hoffmann (Nam) Giant Asia Racing Team
8 Mroz Mateusz (Pol) Merida Europe Team                               0.10
9 Misbah Muhamad Rauf Nur (Mas) Malaysian National Team
10 Kirk O’bee (USA) Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis
Points Classification
1 John Murphy (USA) Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis     19 pts
2 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Team Meitan Hompo-GDRÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 15
3 Kam Po Wong (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling Team                          14
4 Taiji Nishitani (Jpn) AISAN Racing Team                               11
5 Mroz Mateusz (Pol) Merida Europe Team                                  8
6 Emile Abraham TR1 Team Type 1Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 6
7 Misbah Muhamad Rauf Nur (Mas) Malaysian National Team                  6
8 Kirk O’bee (USA) Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis       5
9 Lofflerstefan (Ger) Giant Asia Racing Team                             3
10 Seon Ho Park (Kor) Seoul City Cycling Team                            3
Team Classification
1 Merida Europe Team                                               5.51.12
2 Hong Kong Pro Cycling Team
3 The Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis
4 Malaysian National Team
5 Polygon Sweet Nice Racing Team
6 Drapac Porsche Development Program Team
7 AISAN Racing Team
8 Team Type 1
9 Giant Asia Racing Team
10 Kinan CCD Team
11 Seoul City Cycling Team
12 Team Meitan Hompo-GDR
13 Jet Fuel Coffee Cycling Team
14 Japan National Team
15 e-MA Cycling Team
16 Team Skil-Shimano
17 KFS Special Vehicles
18 Taichung County Team
19 Ruiter Dakkapellen Wielerteam
20 MAO Asia Team
I’ll have updates through the week of more stage results and more photos, so stay tuned. A lot more photos can be seen over on the gallery.
]]>20 years ago, the Kaohsiung City Government undertook a feasibility study to construct a rapid transit system in Kaohsiung. In 1990, after favorable results from the study and lobbying efforts, approval was granted to establish the Kaohsiung City Mass Rapid Transit Bureau. Disputes in funding between the city government and county government stalled the project and it wasn’t until 1994 that the bureau was officially established. In 1996, the Central government ordered the KMRT to construct the project under a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) method. Three corporations bid for the project and in 2000 it was awarded to Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation (KRTC), made up of China Steel Corporation, Southeast Cement Corporation, RSEA Engineering Corporation, China Development Industrial Bank, and the Industrial Bank of Taiwan. The system comprises 2 lines, the red line and the orange line, covering a total of 42.7km. The red line runs north-south from Gangshan ( å—岡山) to Siaogang (å°æ¸¯) over a distance of 28.3km with 15 underground stations, 1 ground level stations and 8 elevated stations. The orange line, comprising of 13 underground and 1 ground level station, runs 14.4km from Sizhiwan (西åç£) in the west to Daliao (大寮) in the east.
Construction began on October 24, 2001 and the KMRT was originally scheduled to be partially open by the end of 2004 and fully operational by late 2006. However, various problems in construction and scandals have meant that the KMRT is still not complete. In August 2004, and again in December 2005, sections of the orange line tunnel collapsed, delaying the construction and damaging surrounding buildings and roads. As of now, several buildings have been condemned and the road is still closed to traffic. Also in 2005, a scandal erupted involving alleged inhumane treatment of Thai migrant workers that lead to the resignation of Chen Chu, the Chairperson of the Council of Labor Affairs of the Executive Yuan. Investigations revealed kickbacks to politicians by the contractor and prompted the Thai prime minister to ask the Thai workers to return to Thailand.
While it is still unclear when the KMRT will become fully operational, some stations were opened over the Chinese New Year holiday for people to inspect and take short rides on. I visited on the first day and saw three stations and took a short ride on the red line. While it was possible to ride the KMRT for six stations, I only rode for one, as once you’re on the train it’s pretty much the same as the Taipei MRT. The photos in this post are of the train itself, and of the Central Park, Sanduo and Shihjia stations.
UPDATE – MJ and Hui-chen over at the New Hampshire Bushman have posted about their adventures on the KMRT, spending more time than I did riding the system. Be sure to check it out.
