Commissioning of first section of planned five-line, 88 km system. 5.4 km Orange Line opened from Nanshih Ciao to Kuting. Red Line from Kuting to Taipei main station opened to connect with existing northern section of Red Line from main station to Tamsui. The southern section of Red Line will open shortly, following design improvements. April 1999.  Bilfinger & Berger reports completion of 4.5 km Chungho line with four stations six months ahead of schedule. Twin tracks in separate 6.1 m-diameter segmentally-lined tubes constructed using three TBMs. Stations built using cut-and-cover with diaphragm walls up to 55 m-deep and 1.2 m-thick braced by multiple layers of steel girders. Foundation piles 1.5 m-diameter and up to 80 m-deep will allow further overhead development. Visit www.bilfingerberger.de for more details. October 1999.Contract CG590C for the eastern end of Xindian-Songshan MRT Green Line, worth USD220 million, was signed with Da Cin Construction on 29th March, 2006. This 3.02 km-long section, scheduled to be completed at the end of October 2012, includes two underground stations (Nanjing Sanmin and Songshan), a crossover section, a tail-track work shaft and three shield-driven tunnel sections. The western edge of the construction begins from Taipei Stadium MRT station at the intersection of Nanjing East Road and Beining Road and is bounded on the east by the Songshan station tail-track work shaft on the west side of intersection of Bade Road and Yucheng Street.The external and internal diameters of the tunnel are 6.1 m and 5.6 m respectively. The tunnel central depth is comprised between 15.7 m and 28.1 m. Most of the tunnel path is located in soft to medium stiff silty clay layers. Underground water level depth is about 2 m. Three EPB shield TBMs will be used, with lining concrete rings consisting of six segments (K type:1 piece, B type: 2 pieces, A type: 3 pieces). Muck wagons for mucking-out.The tail-track work shaft is a cut-and-cover structure with dimension of 42.7 m x 19.1 m x 22.2 m (length x width x depth). The dimension of the Nanjing Sanmin station is 234 m x 36.7 m x 20.2 m (L x W x D). The dimension of the Nanjing Songshan station is 390 m x 23.6 m x 21.2 m (L x W x D). Tunnel construction period: April 2009-August 2010. The scheduled date for completion of other underground structures is January 2011.The Songshan line will connect Nangang line, Danshui line, Xinzhuang line and Muzha line. It will start from the west of Ximen station on the Nangang line. The total length of this line will be approximately 8.5 km featuring eight underground stations. When the line is completed in 2013, the trip from Songshan station to Ximen station will only take 15 minutes. Visit www.dorts.gov.tw/welcome.htm 27/06.For contract CG590B of the Songshan Line put out to tender by the Department of Rapid Transit Systems (DORTS), the tunnel length is 2,040 metres. There are four tunnels between stations G17 and G18 and G18 and G19. In G17-G18, the upper track has a length of 318.9 metres and the down track a length of 318.6 metres. In G18-G19, the upper track is 701.5 metres and the down track 701.4 metres. The external diameter of the tunnel is 6.1 m and the internal diameter is 5.6 m. Contract CG590B is located in the Taipei basin and the stratigraphic unit is Songshan formation of the Quaternary. The Songshan formation is alluvium deposits composed of silty clay and silty sand interbeds. The thickness of topsoil is about 2-3 metres and there are silty clay and silty sand by order under the topsoil. There are gravels until 55 metres deep.The construction method of the underground stations, the pocket track and the common duct is cut and cover while the tunnels will be bored by a shield tunnel boring machine.There are two underground stations (G18 and G19). The G18 is a three-basement underground station (21.87 m wide x 240 m long x 24.7 m deep). The G19 is also a three-basement underground station (25.95 m wide x 219 m long x 25 m deep). Other underground structures include one trumpet section (east side of G17), one pocket track (west side of G18) and one common duct. The trumpet section is 11.5-13 m wide, 90 m long and 20.5 m deep. The pocket track is 9 m wide, 365.3 m long and 24.7 m deep. The length of the common duct is 1,985 m, including 1,808 m in cut-and-cover, 177 m in pipejacking, a 4.7 m wide x 2.4 m high box structure east of Tuahwa North Road and a 2.4 m-wide x 2.4 m-high box structure west of Tuahwa North Road.The detail design consultant are Resources Engineering Services and CTCI Corporation. The project will be built between 10th July, 2006 and April 2013. The estimated amount of contract CG590B is TWD10,082,311,163. Contract CG590A of the Songshan Line is under design. Visit www.dorts.gov.tw/welcome.htm, www.res.com.tw and www.ctci.com.tw 28/06.Singapore Technologies Engineering (ST Engineering) announced that its electronics arm, Singapore Technologies Electronics (ST Electronics), has won a contract worth about SGD36 million from Marubeni for Taipei's Songshan and Xinyi mass rapid transit (MRT) lines. ST Electronics will design, supply, install and commission the MRT's communications system and the train-borne communications system for the two lines. The new communications system for the two new lines will be integrated into the existing systems of the Red/Green line network at the existing Operation Control Center (OCC). These state-of-the-art systems will facilitate an efficient, reliable and safe mode of transportation in Taipei city. ST Electronics will begin work on the 6.4 km Xinyi line with its six underground stations and the 8.5 km Songshan line with eight underground stations, in the first quarter of 2008. Completion is expected to be in 2012 and 2013 respectively. Visit www.stee.stengg.com or www.stengg.com and www.marubeni.com 50-51/07.