Does anyone have definitive information concerning the construction of HsinChu's MRT. I hadn't heard about this being developed but a local businessman that I ride the train with from Taipei into Hsinchu pointed out some new construction near Zhubei that he explained was the new MRT. It sure looked like new above ground tracks. I did a search later in the day and came up with some mention of the project having been approved and funded in 2004. I can't find any news stories about it and the most recent website information is a couple years old.
As near as I can make out, there are 2 lines. One terminus appears to be at the HSR station. The lines connect the HSR station to the Science Park, and downtown as well as Jubei. I also found some mention of Hsinchu's mayor announcing a re-construction of the TRA station. My businessman friend tells me that the line is suppossed to open next year. This left me in doubt of his whole stry as there is NO WAY this would be ready by next year. The little bit of information I was able to glean from various sites indicate the two lines will consist of 26 stations and a total of 26km of track. Most is above ground but the line goes underground to cross the river. Maybe some of you who live down that way can fill us in.

Take a look here. Not much info, but the guys on that forum usually find stuff out pretty quickly.

There is some construction going on for renewal of the Neiwan line, which has been cut between Xinzhu Station and Zhudong (Jhudong) Station. That is related to the MRT line contruction as there is a connection from Zhuzhong (which is on the Neiwan line) to the Xinzhu HSR Station at Liujia

That particular project is to be completed by end of next year.

If you read Chinese you may be able to find more info here (I can't make sense of it): http://www.erieb.gov.tw/


Edit: ups, just saw the post by cfimages which might be more useful.

I live next to the Hsinchu THSR station and observe the status every day:

There is one line under construction, which connects Hsinchu train station (the old one at downtown) to Hsinchu THSR station (at Liujia, Jhubei) utilizing part of the Neiwan line tracks. This construction is the reason for closure of Neiwan line between Hsinchu and Jhudong. The MRT runs above ground across the river parallel to the THSR track, the bridge is currently being built and progess is fast.
I believe everything could be finished in a year and the MRT opened then.
There is no work on (and as far as I know also no plans for) an MRT connection to the science park.

Greetings,
Frank

Why not for pete's sake? That's just inane. Guang Fu E Road is the busiest road in Taiwan.There has to be a stop by SP, or why bother?

Accchhhh!!!! I'll never understand this culture.

Well, it's a year later, and is the Hsinchu MRT open? Or what's the progress?

Also, will there be only one line?

Not open yet.

http://www.erieb.gov.tw/eg4e.asp

Says end of this year, but it'll only have 4 stations...

It's not end of next year yet.

The Chinese version of the Railway Reconstruction Bureau's website has 2011 as the year of completion.