Minister of Transportation and Communications, Mr Lin Chia-lung, said construction of the new line is scheduled to begin next year, Taipei Times reports, and is expected to open in 2026.
The government will also spend $NT 2.3bn on upgrading infrastructure on the 29.75km Jiji branch line, reducing headways between services from 80 minutes to 60 minutes and allowing six-car trains to operate instead of the current four-car trains.
The two projects were previously rejected by the National Development Council for their low cost-to-benefit ratios, but Lin says they were approved after being integrated to reduce costs.
