Transportation in Taiwan

Ministry of Transportation and Communication

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications governs transportation in Taiwan.

Land transportation

National Highway
Provincial Highway

Roads

  • Total length: 41,475 km (2009)
    • National highway: 901 km
    • Provincial highway: 4,680 km
  • Highways: 20,947 km (including 872 km of freeways)
  • Urban roads: 16,395, km

Accidents

In 2014, there were 295,000 accidents on Taiwan roads, with 391,000 injuries and 1,819 fatalities.[1]

Railways

Total:1,580 km (2009) (all on the island of Taiwan)

Conventional rail

Metroway

Currently, the Taipei Metro in Taipei and New Taipei and the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit in Kaohsiung are the only two operational rapid transit systems in Taiwan. Several other cities in Taiwan, including Taoyuan and Taichung, have metro systems under construction. In addition, the TRA is planning on introducing commuting services that run similar to rapid transit systems, including moving its lines underground in central Kaohsiung.[2]

The Taipei Metro was introduced in 1996 and runs on an extensive network of both Multiple Unit for the high-capacity system as well as VAL for the medium-capacity system throughout the metropolitan area of Taipei. The metro system operates 11 lines consisting of 109 stations.[3]

The Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit was introduced in 2008 and runs a metro network throughout the metropolitan area of Kaohsiung. The Red Line is in operation as of 9 March 2008 and the Orange Line opened half a year later on 14 September 2008. Future lines are planned in order to parts of Greater Kaohsiung as well as Pingtung County.

The Taoyuan Metro is a metro system with five lines (Airport MRT, red, green, orange, brown).[4] The Airport MRT serves Taoyuan, Taipei and New Taipei after it opened in March 2017.

The Taichung Metro is currently under construction to create a metro network for Taichung City. The network may serve the Changhua and Nantou counties. The metro will start off with 3 main lines (green, blue, and red) but have four other lines planned. The Green Line is scheduled to be completed in 2015.[5]

The Tainan Mass Rapid Transit System (台南捷運) was postponed by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in January 2010 due to fear of insufficient riders and construction costs. The government has instead chosen to upgrade current rail systems and buses.

The Hsinchu Mass Rapid Transit System (新竹捷運) was postponed by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in January 2010 due to doubts about whether the transit system would be beneficial in the short term.

High-speed rail

Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) 700T Series Shinkansen train in Kaohsiung.

The Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) commenced operations on 5 January 2007, after some delays in 2006. The THSR connects Taipei City in the northeast of the island of Taiwan to Kaohsiung City in the southwest. The journey time is about 90 minutes compared to 4 hours by conventional rail. 30 Shinkansen Class 700T sets are running on the 345 km HSL, with station stops at Taipei Main station, Panchiao, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan and Tsuoying near Kaohsiung. Four additional stations have been opened: Nankang in eastern Taipei, Miaoli, Changhua and Yunlin. In 2008 THSR increased the number of trains to 88 per day, each way.

The Shinkansen 700T is similar to the Japanese 700 Nozomi. It operates in 12 car sets (9 powered, 3 trailers) at a speed limit of 300 km/h over standard gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) track. OCS power is 25 kV AC 60 Hz.

Air transportation

Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

Airports

Total: 40

Length of runways:

Airlines

Total: 7

Heliports

Total: 31 (2013)[6]

Sea transportation

Port of Kaohsiung.

Ports and harbors

Major ports: Kaohsiung, Keelung, Taichung, Hualien

Other ports: Anping, Su'ao, Taipei

Interior ports: Budai, Magong

Merchant marine: 112 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 3,827,173 GRT/6,121,877 tonnes deadweight (DWT) (2010)
ships by type:

  • Bulk 35
  • Cargo 20
  • Chemical tanker 1
  • Container 31
  • Petroleum tanker 12
  • Passenger/cargo 4
  • Refrigerated cargo 7
  • Roll on/roll off 2

Pipelines

As of 2013, Taiwan maintains the following pipelines[7]

  • Condensate 25 km
  • Gas 802 km
  • Oil 241 km

References

  1. ↑ http://www.motc.gov.tw/en/home.jsp?id=255&parentpath=0,150,250
  2. ↑ "Railway Underground Project". Kaohsiung City Government. Archived from the original on 2011-09-01. Retrieved 2011-01-19.
  3. ↑ "Taipei Metro Networks and Systems". Taipei City Government. Archived from the original on 2013-10-21. Retrieved 2014-01-01.
  4. ↑ "Introduction to Airport MRT". Office of Rapid Transit Systems, Taoyuan. Retrieved 2016-12-28.
  5. ↑ "Taichung Mass Rapid Transit System". Taichung City Government. Retrieved 2014-01-01.
  6. ↑ "CIA World Factbook".
  7. ↑ "The World Factbook". Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.