Taichung Metro Green Line Electric Multiple Units Run Automatically, Providing Smart and Safe Transportation

The Taichung Metro Green Line will begin trial operations this year, and intensive testing of the automatic-driving electric multiple units is currently underway on each section of the route. Once it enters service in the future, it will be Taiwan's second metro line to use driverless automatic trains, after the Taipei Metro Wenhu Line. Wang Yichuan, Director-General of the Taichung City Transportation Bureau, said that the MRT Green Line adopts Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC), the most advanced train control technology currently used in rail transport, so that when the electric multiple units are running, they travel and stop according to the scheduled timetable through wireless communication, and use track beacons for an automatic positioning coordinate system to control the electric multiple units within moving block sections, maintaining a safe operating distance and forming a moving protection network. In addition, through intelligent control and management, the headway between trains can be shortened, providing citizens with safer and more convenient rail transport services.

Transportation Bureau Director-General Wang Yichuan said that the main equipment of Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) is composed of the electric multiple units and the trackside automatic train control system, automatic train supervision system, computer interlocking system and data communication system. When the Taichung Metro Green Line electric multiple units run automatically, the train's operating information and commands are transmitted through signals between the onboard antennas and the trackside wireless base stations. Ultimately, control personnel at the operations control center at the Beitun Depot use the train control systems installed at the front and rear of the electric multiple unit cars and inside them to execute various operations and protection actions, and through the automatic train supervision system, monitor the operating conditions of the electric multiple units.

The Transportation Bureau said that driverless operation is a global trend, and Taichung is ready to connect with the international community. The automatic operation of the MRT is the best example. With automatic operation of the electric multiple units, train speed is calculated by computer, and acceleration and deceleration are smoother and more comfortable than manual driving, and faster and safer than human judgment and operation, leading Taichung toward a new international transportation vision.