Type Light Rail Character At-Grade/Elevated | Locale Kaohsiung, Taiwan | |
 | ||
Termini C1 (Near Yisin Rd.)
C14 (Near Kaohsiung Harbor Station) Stations 14 (under construction),
36 (total planned) Operator(s) Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit | ||
The Circular Line (Chinese: 環狀輕軌; Wade–Giles: Huan2 chuang4 Ch'ing1 kuei3; literally Circular Light Rail) is a 22.1-kilometer (13.7 mi) circular light rail line currently under construction in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The south part of this line makes use of the defunct tracks of the Taiwan Railways Administration's Kaohsiung Harbor Line.
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Forecast to cost 16.5 billion New Taiwan dollars, it will be the world's first light rail vehicle system on a fully catenary-free route.
Phase I construction consists of a section of line from Station C1 to Station C14, where Stations C3 and C14 are the transfer stations to Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit system's Red Line and Orange Line, respectively. Construction of Phase I began on June 4, 2013. The section C1 – C8 (Perhaps C1 – C10) is scheduled to be tested from August 2015 (riding on the trams is open to the public for free) and fully operational by mid-2017. As of March 30, 2015, the civil construction part of Stations C1, C2 and C3 has been finished. The CAF Urbos trams used in this line parked at or passed by these stations for demonstrations and tests in several events from November 2014 to March 2015.
Phase II construction will not start until the Kaohsiung urban railway is relocated underground in 2017. It is scheduled to be completed in 2019.
Rolling stock
The line's fleet will consist of nine CAF Urbos trams that will operate catenary-free. The tramcars will be 34 meters (112 ft) in length, and will be able to transport a total of 250 passengers (seated, and standing).
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, in order to demonstrate the feasibility of building a light rail system in Kaohsiung City. It 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.