THE Kaohsiung City Mass Rapid Transit Bureau in Taiwan has awarded a consortium of Singapore Technologies Engineering (ST Engineering), Stadler and Siemens Mobility a contract to provide turnkey railway systems for the new Kaohsiung MRT Yellow Line.

ST Engineering’s share of the contract is worth $S 1.4bn ($US 1bn) including the electrification and communications system, an automatic fare collection system, platform screen doors and depot design, construction and equipment fit-out. The company will also be responsible for overall project management and serve as the systems integration lead.

Stadler will supply 25 fully automatic medium-capacity three-car metro trains from its St Margrethen site as part of the project, while Siemens Mobility will supply the CBTC signalling system.

With 2.72 million residents, Kaohsiung is Taiwan’s third most populous city and the economic centre of the south of the country. The Red and Orange lines were opened in 2008. The new 22.8km Yellow Line includes a 21.85km underground section with 22 stations and a 920m elevated section with one station. It will have interchanges with the existing metro lines as well as light rail and main line services.

The line is designed as an inverted Y, with one section running from Jiangong Road to Minzu Road while the second section runs from Chengcing Road to Wujia Road.

The Yellow Line is expected to cost $NT 144.2bn ($US 4.7bn), with central government contributing $NT 83.3bn and the Kaohsiung city government contributing $NT 60.8bn. Once completed, it will provide sustainable, safe, comfortable, fast and reliable public transport for more than 40% of the city’s population.

Stadler says the trains will be highly energy efficient due to their lightweight aluminium construction and will operate at Grade of Automation 4 (GoA4). They will also be designed to operate in Taiwan’s tropical climate, with high levels of humidity of up to 100% and extreme temperatures of up to 45oC.

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