So what’s this I hear about the MRT breaking down this morning?
My co-worker who lives near me came in and was all “How’d you get here before me? The MRT broke down?” My response, “I scooter commute?”
My co-worker was also complaining about the MRT this morning.
She said is stopped for extra 6 minutes in each station. It had to do with a broken rail or something 
Seems a maintenance vehicle derailed at Xiaonanmen, so one of the green line tracks is out of service. Service was (is?) down to 1 every 28 minutes between there and Zhongshan.
I notice my colleague who lives in Xindian hasn’t got to work yet. Poor guy is going to get wages docked.
Yeah, there was a bit of a slowdown pulling into Dongmen from Xiangshan. The driver was talking over the intercom, but the sound was so crap he could easily have been speaking friggin Uzbek.
My coworkers tell me the problem was announced on the news. I ocassionally turn on the TV for the weather report, but this morning I was focused on what to wear. Woe me.
If they had been so nice as to put some kind of ad/sign/whatever in our lovely Tapinglin station on the Xindian line saying there was a MASSIVE problem, I would have taken a taxi… As it was, I got there 5 minutes earlier than usual -which is like 45 minutes before work, for a 20 minute commute. Lo and behold, I wait like 10 minutes for the train, the whole station is filled to the brim, and then we get into the cars Tokyo style.
By Gongguan a fight broke up in the next car and someone was hauled off by the hair. That’s when they started making announcements in Uzbek and Muppet Swedish.
In Guting, as they were now using bullhorns to shepherd the masses at the platforms and sending people to take the shuttle, I asked a woman who had just got on if they had just said it was the Blue line the one that had broken. She had no idea and pointed to our train saying “but we are moving”.
To play it safe, I got off at CKS and elbowed my way into the Tamsui train. Literally. It was already 5 minutes to work start whistle, so I reasoned I’d get one of those pretty paper slips from the nice clerks at the service counters in Taipei Main Station. You know, the ones that say you are excused from being late as it is their fault. Looking forward to filling the paperwork and getting all six signatures at work from my bosses so they won’t dock my time off, based on that little piece of paper.
Oh, and apparently a maintenance and repair car, one of those that clean up the rails and such, toppeld over, closing not one but two lines, so they were sending the trains to turn around to Tapinglin, or so the woman at the counter told me.
Crap, I miss all the fun.
You should have seen people’s faces when the screaming started on the next car. I mean, I had my earphones on -Grand Funk- and I somehow extricated my hand to turn the music off and check out what was going on.
Grand Funk, you’re hilarious.
I’m not sure if I should make a “Railroad” joke or a “Loco Motion” joke.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e7/GrandFunkAlltheGirls.jpg
Looking good for the Tamsui light rail:
The tram system’s first phase encompasses 14 stops on two tram lines – the Lushan (Green Mountain) Line, which has 11 stops, and the Lanhai (Blue Seaside) Line, which has three stops.
The Lushan Line starts from the Hongshulin metro station and runs along Zhongzheng East Road, Provincial Highway No. 2, Binhai Road and Shalun Road, and ends near the Danhai New Town project.
The Lanhai Line, meanwhile, shares the 1.21-km section of track and three stops with the Lushan Line before going in the other direction on Binhai Road and ending at Fisherman’s Wharf by the Tamsui River.
The first phase of the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2018. The first car will be tested on the line in November and all 15 carriages will be manufactured by August 2017.
Wonder how’s the Ankeng one going?
Yeah, out in Danshui that’s gone from “No way they’re really doing this” to “Hmph, there’s actually construction” to “Holy shit there are elevated tracks all over the place!” awfully fast.
Eh, guys, if anyone was planning on taking the Brown Line -Muzha line or Wenshan line -whatever they call it this days…to go home after work, well, there was a breakdown. Expect delays/traffic snarled on the way to Neihu.
Any idea what was up there on brown line / line 1 / …? I heard in the morning there was a “tiny explosion” somewhere, but supposedly service was OK again at noon…
Then Around 6 in the Neihu area trains going only back and forth between 2 stations each, so having to change trains a few times to go towards Nangang.
I hope tomorrow it will be fine again, I plan to go to work and later to the airport for a tiny Penghu vacation 
Enjoy Penghu!
‘Tiny explosion’ turned out to be a flat tire. Tires on an MRT line, who would have thought?
Clearly you have not been to Montreal!
Guy
Some Paris Metro cars use tires too.
And Line 1 trains in Taipei are from France - hmmmm 
It is the Brown Line, after all… cars that roll on rubber tires.
Back in 1995, when they were doing the testing, blown tires were a recurring problem that had to be fixed before the line could open.
This morning around 11:30 I was crossing the platform to change trains at Dictator Hall MRT Station in Taipei. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw some guy shoving someone. That guy then walked right by me and punched me in the shoulder–nothing that hurt, but come on! The guy then continued to the foot of the escalator, where he shoved an older lady, who started yelling at him in Taiwanese. The MRT volunteer staff finally noticed something was going on.
After keeping my distance from this obvious nutcase, I cautiously made my way up the escalator, where the guy was apprehended by MRT staff near the ticket gate. They tried holding him by his shoulder and talking to him, when the guy lashed out and punched one of the staff members. Then out came the moves, pushing the guy to the ground and placing a knee on his back to keep him there. A few minutes later an plainclothes cop (with a plaid shirt and distressed jeans!) showed up and expertly held the guy done. I would not have known this was a cop without an MRT staff member telling me.
Clearly the guy was disturbed–it looked something like Tourette syndrome but with punching instead of yelling things out. I am just glad this guy was not armed with a fruit knife or anything sharp.
Guy
Scary. Glad you are OK.
surprised i don’t see that sort of thing more often. i see crazies here basically every day.