Relocating the Railway in the Taipei Metropolitan Area
Project Location
Taipei and New Taipei City,
Northern Taiwan
Client
Railway Bureau
Services Period
From January 1989
to January 2016
Type of Services
Engineering Design and Construction Supervision
Project Overview
Taiwan Railways decided to relocate the railway passing through the Taipei Metropolitan Area during the 1980s in order to eliminate at-grade road crossings and enable better usage of the occupied land for local development.
The ambitious project started with a newly built Taipei Station completed in 1989 which at the same time relocated a 4.42 kilometer long section of the railway underground while passing through central Taipei from the Wanhua area southwest of Taipei Station to Huashan located east of Taipei Station.
Extensions to this initial section for relocating the railway were thus carried out in a number of stages with three different extension projects stretching from the Shulin Coach Yard in the western part of Taipei Metropolitan Area to the Cidu Marshaling Yard in the eastern part of Taipei Metropolitan Area.
More Projects
Banqiao Extension Project -
The Banqiao Extension Project extended westward from Wanhua and redeveloped the Wanhua area of Taipei as a western gateway of Taipei City, and also developed the Banqiao Station Special Zone area in neighboring New Taipei City as a western regional hub for the Taiwan High Speed Rail, Taiwan Railways, Taipei Rapid Transit System and various bus services.
The project comprised works along a 15.38 kilometers long section of railway starting from the new Shulin Coach Yard in the western part of Taipei Metropolitan Area and heading eastward towards Banqiao and Wanhua including a 7.18 kilometer section of underground railway in between Banqiao and Wanhua.
CECI was involved with the engineering design and / or construction supervision services for each of these extension projects, namely:
Songshan Extension Project -
The Songshan Extension Project was the first extension project and continued to extend the railway underground from Huashan eastward to Taipei's Songshan District.
The 5.33 kilometer long double track section of underground railway enabled Taipei's first east-west direction elevated expressway (Civic Boulevard) to be built directly above the railway.
CECI was responsible for carrying out engineering design services for the underground tunnel and associated works of this section which was completed in 1994.
Starting from the west, CECI was responsible for carrying out engineering design services for
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the Shulin Coach Yard covering an area of 14.3 hectares,
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the newly constructed Shulin Station,
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underground tunnel segments in between Banqiao and western Taipei, and
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the new underground Wanhua Station in western Taipei.
The entire works of the Banqiao Extension Project was completed in 2004.
Nangang Extension Project -
The final extension project for relocating the railway in the Taipei Metropolitan Area was the Nangang Extension Project which comprised works located along a length of 19.5 kilometers from Keelung Road in Taipei's Songshan District where the Songshan Extension Project ends, towards Cidu in the eastern part of Taipei Metropolitan Area.
Starting from the west, the main components of this extension project comprised
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A 5.4 KM long double track underground tunnel section extending eastward from Keelung Road in Taipei's Songshan District to the Dakeng River in Taipei's Nangang Distict;
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A 2.55 KM long mountain tunnel / ramp section extending eastward from the Dakeng River in Taipei's Nangang District to an elevated railway section starting at the Xizhih Overpass Bridge of National Freeway No. 3 in New Taipei City;
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A 3.4 KM long double track elevated railway section extending eastward from the Xizhih Overpass Bridge of National Freeway No. 3 in New Taipei City including three new elevated stations;
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A 1.8 KM long embankment section continuing eastward from the end of the elevated railway section to the western end of the New Wudu Tunnel;
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The 461 meter long New Wudu Tunnel continuing eastward towards Cidu;
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A new Marshaling Yard in Cidu covering 45 hectares;
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Reconstruction of the Cidu Station;
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Reconstruction of Songshan Station in eastern Taipei as an underground station and mixed-use development; and
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Reconstruction of Nangang Station in eastern Taipei as an underground station, mixed-use development and the future eastern regional hub of Taipei with facilities shared by Taiwan High Speed Rail, Taiwan Railways, the Taipei Rapid Transit System, and various bus services.
CECI was responsible for carrying out
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the engineering design services for 2.763 kilometers of underground tunnel in Taipei's Nangang District;
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the engineering design and construction supervision services for the new Nangang Station regional hub development;
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the engineering design services for the 2.55 kilometer long mountain tunnel / ramp section in between the underground tunnel section and elevated railway section;
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the engineering design services for the 3.4 kilometer long elevated railway section (the first elevated railway in Taiwan);
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the engineering design services for the 1.8 kilometer long embankment section (and elevated viaduct section approach);
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the engineering design and construction supervision services for the new Cidu Station; and
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the engineering design and construction supervision services for the new Cidu Marshaling Yard ---> the biggest marshaling yard in Southeast Asia,
All of the works of the Nangang Extension Project, and thus the entire project for relocating the railway in the Taipei Metropolitan Area, was finally completed in 2016 after decades of hard work and close collaboration between the government agencies, engineering consulting firms and construction contractors.
