Kaohsiung MRT

Craig February 10th, 2008

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 ( 南岡山) to Siaogang (小港) 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 (西子灣) in the west to Daliao (大寮) in the east.

kaohsiungmrt-2

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.

kaohsiungmrt-13

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.

kaohsiungmrt-14

kaohsiungmrt-15

kaohsiungmrt-12

kaohsiungmrt-9

kaohsiungmrt-6

kaohsiungmrt-10

kaohsiungmrt-8

kaohsiungmrt-7

kaohsiungmrt-1

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite PicLens

Tags: , , , ,

9 Responses to “Kaohsiung MRT”

  1. # David on Formosaon 10 Feb 2008 at 8:33 pm

    Wonderful photos Craig. Are their full platform doors at all the stations? It is quite a good idea as it saves a lot on air-conditioning costs. I plan to go down to Kaohsiung once the system is officially opened and check it out.

  2. # Craigon 10 Feb 2008 at 8:40 pm

    There were full platform doors at the stations I saw, but whether they are at all stations, I don’t know.

  3. # Stephenon 11 Feb 2008 at 12:15 pm

    A great post. I have been waiting for years for the Kaohsiung MRT. This city really needs an MRT. We will sure appreciate the roads back in place when the construction is finished.

    It is still a year away for the orange line to come in to service.

  4. # MJ Kleinon 12 Feb 2008 at 4:24 pm

    im surprised we didn’t run into you Craig!

  5. # TheNHBushman.com | Kaohsiung Rapid Transit System: Part Ion 13 Feb 2008 at 12:17 pm

    [...] friend Craig has an article about the new KRT system, beating us to the punch with the scoop, but we couldn’t be more pleased, as Craig’s [...]

  6. # John Matthewson 13 Feb 2008 at 4:00 pm

    looks Good Craig
    I wonder if they will take lessons learnt and do some more metro systems for the other main citys outside Taipei

  7. # aphextwinon 13 Feb 2008 at 6:43 pm

    nice shots mate. super sharp indoor shots - i need to learn how to do that.

    i got the impression that I was looking at the MRTs here in singapore - they look really similar except for the signs in chinese. but that escalator….must have been a record for length or something.

  8. # the Dutch travelleron 03 Mar 2008 at 6:01 pm

    Hi Craig, I see you got the scoop. Your efforts were not in vain. :) Great pics & interesting background info. Would like to see an update after the the whole system has finally opened. I’m back on the mainland safe and sound. Good luck with everything, take care,

    Gerard

  9. # Craigon 07 Apr 2008 at 8:50 pm

    Yeng, sorry for the delay in replying - I’ve been very busy. It’s mostly Central Park station, with one or two from Sanduo.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS

Leave a Reply