TAIWAN: Tainan municipality has approved feasibility studies for the city’s planned Dark Green Line monorail as part of a widfer network development plan.
This 21·3 km elevated line would serve 14 stations, linking the Shanhua main line station in the northeast to the Zhongshan Road area in the southeast.
An eight-line urban monorail network is ultimately planned in the city, which will provide links to the neighbouring city of Kaohsiung. An interchange is envisaged between the Tainan network and the planned northern extension of Kaohsiung’s Red Line metro.
The most advanced part of the planned network is the Blue Line, where construction on the first section is expected to start next year. The 8·4 km initial section would serve 10 elevated stations on two branches. The north-south route would run from Taiwan Railway Corp’s Daqiao station, looping eastwards, and running to Tainan Municipal Cultural Centre and Rende Transfer Station, where a maintenance facility would be located.
The Blue Line was approved by the Ministry of Transportation & Communications in March 2024, and opening is planned for 2031.
Kaohsiung metro and light rail operating concessionaire KRTC has been providing consultancy services for the Blue Line’s first section and its future extensions, as well as for the Green and Red Line projects.
