TAIWAN: Taipei City Government’s Department of Rapid Transit Systems has awarded a consortium of Alstom and local engineering and contracting company CTCI the €378m rolling stock and railway systems contract for Taipei Metro Line 7 Phase 1.

Announcing the contract on July 10, consortium leader Alstom said its €220m share of the contract would include the supply of 19 four-car Metropolis trainsets, Urbalis CBTC for driverless operation, SCADA and platform screen doors. CTCI would provide the track, power supplies, depot equipment, telecoms and fare collection systems.

Civil works are already underway for the first phase of the medium capacity Line 7, also known as the Wanda Zhonghe Shulin Line, with completion planned for 2025. The 9·5 km Phase 1 will start at Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall station on the Xindian Line and run southwest, passing under the River Xindian to serve New Taipei City and terminate at Jincheng Road. There will be nine underground stations, with a journey time of 15 min and a capacity of 247 000 passengers/day.

In the longer term, the proposed Phase 2 would extend the line by 13·3 km to the Xinzhuang Line’s Huilong station, with two underground and 11 elevated stations.