The Kaohsiung Circular Light Rail () is a light rail loop line in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, operated by the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation. The line stretches over a length of 22.1 kilometers and has 38 stations. The southern part of this line makes use of the defunct tracks of the Kaohsiung Harbor Railway Line. Construction cost was forecasted to be 16.5 billion New Taiwan dollars.
Phase I consists of the section of the line from Station C1 to Station C14, of which Stations C3 and C14 are transfer stations to the KMRT and , respectively. Construction of Phase I began on 4 June 2013. Stations C1 to C14 were open on a test-basis (free for the public) from August 2015, and commenced formal operations in September 2017.
Phase II construction of the northern section partially began on 12 January 2021 after the underground relocation of the Kaohsiung urban railway. The northern part of Phase II was scheduled to be opened in June 2021 along with the rest, but was delayed until 1 January 2024 due to local opposition.
History +PhaseSegmentCommencementLength (km)StationsILizihnei - Hamasen4 July 20168.714II Phase 1Hamasen - Gushan District OfficeLizihnei - Kaisyuan Park12 January 20214.19II Phase 2 Gushan District Office - TRA Museum of Fine Arts16 December 20211.83II Phase 3TRA Museum of Fine Arts - Heart of Love River5 October 20222.44II FullHeart of Love River - Kaisyuan Park1 January 202457
Stations Code Station name Station type Locale Sta. distance (km) Opened date Transfer Structure Platform Previous Total Circular light rail Continue with LRT Depot station Ground Side Cianjhen Kaohsiung 0.457 21.9970.000 2015-10-16 rowspan="2" 0.740 0.740 0.638 1.378 () 0.704 2.082 rowspan="5" 0.691 2.773 2016-6-26 0.623 3.396 0.519 3.915 Lingya 0.636 4.551 0.691 5.242 2017-6-30 0.727 5.969 rowspan="4" Elevated Yancheng 0.627 6.596 Ground 0.521 7.117 0.487 7.604 2017-9-26 Gushan 0.609 8.213 0.515 8.728 2021-1-12 rowspan="3" 0.538 9.266 0.756 10.022 0.558 10.580 2021-12-16 0.565 11.145 0.584 11.729 0.395 12.124 2022-10-5 rowspan="2" 0.458 12.582 Island 0.366 12.948 Blue line 0.432 13.380 Side 0.866 14.246 () Zuoying 0.580 14.826 2024-1-1 Sanmin 0.690 15.516 Purple line 0.418 15.934 0.676 16.610 0.720 17.330 0.803 18.133 Lingya 0.480 18.613 0.481 19.094 2021-1-12 () 0.510 19.604 rowspan="5" 0.470 20.074 0.505 20.579 Fengshan 0.499 21.078 Cianjhen 0.462 21.540 Continue with Lizihnei station References: 高雄市捷運局捷運計畫
Rolling stock
The line's fleet consists of nine CAF Urbos trams that are powered by supercapacitor banks. The tramway cars are in length, and are able to transport a total of 250 passengers (seated, and standing).
Fifteen Alstom Citadis 305 tramway cars entered service in November 2020.
Tickets Unlike the Kaohsiung Metro Red and Orange lines, the Kaohsiung Light Rail is charged at a lower rate. As of January 2019, the fare for each light rail is NT$30. There is special rate of NT$10 by using a digital wallet (such as iPass, EasyCard, icash, etc). Card readers are available at each station and inside the tramway. When paying the fare, passengers are only charged for one e-ticket at a time. When paying by cash, passengers can purchase tickets at the ticket vending machines at each station for the ticket inspector to check.
Previous light rail demonstration project
In 2004, the Kaohsiung City Government and Siemens built a temporary two-station circular light rail line in Central Park, operated by a single trainset, to demonstrate the feasibility of building a light rail system in Kaohsiung City. This was meant to alleviate some residents' concerns that light rail would negatively impact their surroundings by producing excessive noise and hindering normal traffic flow. This Siemens Combino vehicle would later become the D2 Class operated in Melbourne, Australia.
See also Danhai light rail Transportation in Taiwan Kaohsiung Metro
References
External links