Hat tip to Prof. Liu of Fengchia University for the pointer to this map. Here is the planned Taichung Metro. The route follows the main railway line through the city, which explains why there is so much construction on that line. The pink squares are existing train stations in Fengyuan, Tanzi, Taiyuan, Taichung, and Daching. They all appear to be stations on the new metro line, meaning that it links Fengyuan to Taichung city. Additional stations added to the metro line include Fengnan (southern Fengyuan), Toujia (between Tanzi and northern Taichung), Sungchu Rd, Chingwu Rd, and Wuchuan Rd. An additional line along the green dotted line appears to run down Wensin Rd and appears to meet the purple line at Daching. Evidently the green line will be extended out to the HSR station at some point, since the city is committed by MOU to run the metro out there.
Meanwhile looks like if you live in Fengchia area, up at Tunghai on Tatu Mountain, on the west coast, or near the mountains in Ta-ken, Wufeng or (heaven forbid) Taiping, you'll be fighting the morning traffic instead of riding the metro.
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Exciting... Fengyuan to Taichung MRT. But, that's pretty much going from one end of the line to the other. I don't know how long 20km takes for an MRT, but it seems quite long... at that rate, it would seem taking the bus from Fengyuan to Taichung would still seem viable?
ReplyDeleteWhat the heck? Did you read the title of the map? It is not a metro along the railway. It's a replacement for the railway. You are missing the main point of putting railroad underground or overhead--much better pedestrian and traffic patterns all along the railway throughout the entire city, which is huge for real estate development.
ReplyDeleteNotice also that this kind of real estate development is much more urban renewal than empty farmland turned government boondoggle. There is also little question of the route if the goal is getting the tracks out of the way of pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
Leslie, I've written on the way putting the railway above/below ground will make real estate speculators delighted (don't really think urban renewal is the goal).
ReplyDeleteBut the title of the map says that the railway is being "metro-ized" meaning that the added stations are stations on the metro. Note also the line described as "the wu er wen xin line".
I don't get your criticism of the real estate value increase due the removal of train tracks that greatly impede pedestrian and commercial traffic. Trying to associate real estate improvements with speculators does not make those real estate improvements automatically bad.
ReplyDeletePoorer communities living on "the wrong side of the tracks" are common all over the world. Ever think about why it's always divided by train tracks? Removing those tracks to underground or overhead brings real value to a city--unlike simply pouring millions into the countryside or the government buying up land. Store fronts that previously could not survive along railroad tracks will all of a sudden be exposed to much more pedestrian and vehicular traffic, bring in new tenants. Above store fronts, renters who didn't want to live above long rows of automobile repair shops and car washes will now consider renting in the area because shops and dining establishments they like have moved in.
Removing those tracks are a really, really good thing for Taichung and dismissing it as merely feeding real estate speculation is a very shallow, useless, and ultimately just simply incorrect analysis.
If you say so.
ReplyDelete