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TRA adds two EMU900 trains to fleet
FIRST OF 520: The 10-car EMU900s would increase capacity in comparison with the eight-car regional trains currently in use, the deputy minister of transport said
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
The Taiwan Railways Administration’s (TRA) two new EMU900 regional trains are to begin operations on Sunday to transport travelers during the Tomb Sweeping Day long weekend.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) were among the government officials yesterday afternoon presiding over the train’s inauguration ceremony at Keelung Railway Station, the starting point of the nation’s trunk line.
The government’s response to a water shortage has been “inadequate,” Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said yesterday, urging it to review its Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program for water environments.
Water environments are one of eight areas targeted by the program, which was launched in 2017 by President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration.
“The public’s worries are the focus of our attention,” Chiang told a weekly KMT Central Standing Committee meeting in Taipei.
Signs of the water shortage have in the past few days raised alarms about supplies in different parts of the nation, he said.
Predicted rainfall in the coming
The government has budgeted about NT$15.5 billion (US$548.5 million) to subsidize telecoms for the building of 5G base stations, with the aim of raising service coverage to 85 percent in two-and-a-half years, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday.
The program funding came from the budget for the third phase of the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program, in which the Executive Yuan earmarked NT$26.6 billion for a five-year plan to speed up the deployment of 5G infrastructure, the commission said.
However, in January, the Legislative Yuan only approved the budget for the first two years: NT$9.92 billion for this year and NT$5.57 billion