Department of Sports, Taipei City Government

Following an 18,000-km sea voyage, the brand-new EMU arrived in Taiwan, marking a crucial step towards the goal of opening Wanda line to the public. On November 11, DORTS held an unveiling ceremony at Jincheng Depot for the arrival of the first train of the Wanda line. Taipei City and New Taipei City mayors jointly presided over the ceremony, and distinguished guests from all walks of life, including legislators, city councilors, district directors, and neighborhood chiefs were invited to participate in the event. 

DORTS explained that Wanda line is 22 kilometers in length, and construction is planned in two phases. When Phase I of Wanda line opens for operations, it will not only become an important transportation artery between Taipei City and New Taipei City, which is capable of meeting the transportation needs of people living along the route in Zhongzheng and Wanhua Districts in Taipei City and Zhonghe, Yonghe, and Tucheng Districts in New Taipei City, but will also provide rendezvous transfers with the Tamsui-Xinyi line, the Songshan-Xindian line, and the Circular line. Following the opening of the Wanda line, the travel time from Zhonghe Senior High School Station to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station, originally 38 minutes, will be reduced to just 14 minutes.

DORTS Systemwide E&M Project Office (SEMPO), which is responsible for the supervision of mechanical and electrical systems, stated that a total of 35 EMU trains were procured for Wanda line, which is a fully-automated driverless medium-capacity rapid transit system. The EMUs were manufactured at French manufacturer Alstom’s factory in Brazil and feature a steel-wheel rail type and stainless steel car bodies; furthermore, they are connected in a fixed 4-car formation with a total length of approximately 70 meters. 

SEMPO further elaborated that there are 26 seats in each EMU carriage on the Wanda line, and the seats are configured longitudinally, which enables a minimum width clearance of 1.2m to be maintained in the vehicle interiors. An entire EMU can carry 700 passengers, and there are walkways between carriages. In addition, in response to the small turning radius in some underground sections of Wanda line, vibration-absorbing wheels are used to reduce EMU vibration and noise, minimizing impacts on people’s lives.

During his speech, Taipei City Mayor Chiang Wan-an mentioned that the public selected the exterior design of the Wanda line EMUs by voting, with the vibrant aqua blue ripples presenting an image of Wanda line passing through the Xindian River and the Dahan River. Today the public could finally lay eyes on the debut of the long-awaited EMUs. 

Mayor Chiang pointed out that the quality and driving stability of the trains are the top priority for the MRT team, and SEMPO sent professional supervisors to Brazil for a year to strictly oversee and control the construction quality and successfully complete the manufacturing and assembly of the first train. This laid the foundation for the subsequent mass production of the vehicles.

Mayor Chiang stated that this is the first time that he has welcomed the arrival of new EMUs during his tenure as mayor, and it is the result of the multi-party cooperation and joint efforts of the MRT team. He extended special gratitude to everyone involved in the project for making this moment possible and stated that the sweat of every worker is the momentum which will smoothly drive the EMUs into the future. Mayor Chiang emphasized that Wanda line is a major Taipei City policy for bringing about improved transportation and carrying out the important mission of promoting balanced regional development. The Taipei city government will continue to promote the development of smarter and greener public transportation and cooperate with New Taipei City for a brighter future.

DORTS further explained that Jincheng Depot will be the base for this first EMU train, and the depot was specially designed for the Wanda line. The depot is equipped with advanced train inspection, maintenance and testing facilities and has the capacity to simultaneously accommodate multiple EMU trains for routine maintenance. Testing and trial operations will be conducted on more EMUs in the future in preparation for the official opening of the Wanda line.

DORTS pointed out that investor solicitation for the joint development of Jincheng Depot and Juguang Station has been completed. Following the completion of construction, it will form a 95,000-ping large-scale complex living community which meets residential and leisure needs and provides efficient transportation in the belief that cooperating with green transportation of the Wanda line can fulfill the social responsibility of reducing the earth’s carbon emissions.