Taipei Travel

To minimize the impact of the weather upon the MRT, Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (TRTC) has installed specialized syringe-shaped ‘thermometers’ beneath the train tracks between MRT Fuxinggang Station and MRT Zhongyi Station to monitor track temperature since 2010.

While most of the railways of high capacity MRT lines are located underground, the section between MRT Yuanshan Station and MRT Tamsui Station is located on the surface and remains exposed to the elements. On June 4, 2016, the railway thermometer detected rail temperature reaching 51.5-degree Celsius. Crew members were dispatched to the location to ensure that train operation for this section was not affected.

According to TRTC, the design of MRT tracks can tolerate heat up to 60-degree Celsius with track surveillance standards set at 50-degree Celsius, having taking into account the temperature standard of countries in the Asia Pacific region and those adopted by Taiwan High Speed Rail. Whenever the track temperature exceeds 50-degree Celsius, the track maintenance personnel will be dispatched to the area for field inspection.

The remote monitoring of both train track temperature and surrounding temperature changes from the command center allows further collection and analysis of the data on relative factors, which may be used for reference for track maintenance.

As for the train tracks for the Wenhu Line, the Public Work Department has already taken into account of the effects from changing temperature into the trach design, leaving sufficient room for the effects from temperature fluctuation at key connecting sections to ensure track integrity.