The Sanying Line: A 14.29-Kilometer Commuter Shortcut and the Unfinished Urban Negotiation Beneath the Viaduct

Image: New Taipei Metro Sanying Line EMU 20230830.jpg / Yu tptw / Wikimedia Commons / Used under Attribution only license per file page; image not cropped. File page

30-Second Overview: The Sanying Line, which opened on June 30, 2026, spans 14.29 kilometers with 12 stations, running from Dingpu in Tucheng through Sanxia to Yingge, allowing passengers to transfer to the Taipei Metro Bannan Line and the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) more directly. Each train consists of only two cars with a capacity of 330 passengers. After opening, buses will still be responsible for station-area feeder services, early morning and late evening hours, and destinations such as old streets and campuses. This line shortens travel distance but also brings capacity constraints, noise issues, and the problems of land acquisition and residents' rights in Maizaiyuan into the same transportation network. ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9}

Quick Facts

Reading Highlights: This is not merely a simplified guide to the stations on a route, but an observation of how transfers, capacity, and land governance occur simultaneously, starting from "how a line enters daily life."

In the early morning of December 24, 2023, on Jieshou Road in Sanxia, a crane placed the final section of the Sanying Line's upper and lower U-shaped beams into position. The New Taipei City Bureau of Rapid Transit Engineering referred to this moment as "closing the gap" (he long): the 14.29-kilometer elevated route finally connected into a complete line between Tucheng, Sanxia, and Yingge. ¹⁰

Two and a half years later, at 2:00 PM on June 30, 2026, the train departed from Dingpu Station, and the Sanying Line officially opened for service. It is not a sudden tourist shortcut, but a public engineering project that began construction on July 21, 2016, underwent testing and inspection, and only then received operating permits. ^{1 11}

The most noteworthy aspect of this line is not just that "Sanxia and Yingge finally have a metro." It is more like an urban negotiation suspended in mid-air: the government promises to shorten commute times and connect to the TRA and Bannan Line, while the local community must answer questions about safety, noise, pedestrian space, and what the areas around the stations will become before the trains even pass through.

A Line That First Connects Two Transfer Systems

The Sanying Line begins at Dingpu Station in Tucheng, connecting with the Taipei Metro Bannan Line. The terminus is at Yingtao Fude Station in Yingge. The line includes 12 stations with a total length of 14.29 kilometers and a planned budget of NT$50.2 billion. The route passes through Tucheng, Sanxia, and Yingge, retaining a tail track to allow for future extension toward Bade in Taoyuan, connecting to the Taoyuan Green Line. ¹

Its geographical significance cannot be summarized merely as "connecting Sanxia and Yingge to Taipei." The Sanying Line orders previously scattered transfer actions into a sequence: transferring to the Bannan Line at Dingpu, transferring to the TRA at Yingge, and in the future, connecting the Taipei-Taoyuan living circle into a single rail network. The New Taipei City Bureau of Rapid Transit Engineering estimates that commute times between the Sanying area and central Taipei can be reduced by approximately 20 minutes. ^{1 12}

Yingge Station particularly reveals the ambition of this design. LB08 Yingge Station is located south of the TRA Yingge Station, with a walking distance of approximately 130 meters between them. The plan connects Yingge Agricultural Association via an overhead bridge, allowing transfers to the TRA through the association's corridors. This is not simply adding another platform; it transforms movement that previously relied on cars, shuttle buses, or walking into a node where transfers happen within the city. ²

Image: YinggeStation Frontal.jpg / SElefant / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons; image not cropped. File page

Curator's Note: The "speed" of the Sanying Line is not just about train velocity, but also about transforming transfers from a temporary detour into a daily route officially recognized by the city.

Why Does an Elevated Line Take So Long?

The entire Sanying Line is elevated. The route description published by the Bureau of Rapid Transit Engineering lists that it must cross National Highway 3, the TRA, the Dahan River, the Sanxia River, and the Yingge Creek, among other traffic and water conditions. In pre-opening press releases, the government summarized the difficult construction sections as 8 points, including crossings of national highways, railways, and rivers. ^{1 12}

Elevation does not make problems disappear into the sky. Bridge piers must be placed between existing roads and settlements; beams must be lifted without affecting traffic and railway operations; and electromechanical systems must be tested section by section after civil engineering is completed. After completing the full-line "closing of the gap" in December 2023, the project still had to enter track laying, high-voltage power supply, signaling, and communication equipment installation, followed by system testing. ¹⁰

This is why "closing the gap" does not mean "you can ride it tomorrow." It is a visible engineering milestone, but not the endpoint of safety verification. In April 2026, the city government stated that the Sanying Line had completed stability testing and submitted it for preliminary inspection. After completing the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) inspection on June 7, there were still pre-operational improvement items to complete. Only on June 23, after obtaining the operating permit, was the opening officially announced. ^{1 13}

Details of the inspection reported by Ke Xin (Ke News) show that the MOTC divided improvement items into 4 mandatory pre-operational improvements, 6 general attention improvements, and 5 subsequent recommended improvements. Inspections did not just review documents; they also included field surveys and simulation drills for scenarios where "trains cannot run and passengers are injured, requiring emergency rescue." ¹⁴

Curator's Note: The true completion date of a metro line is not the day the last beam was lifted, but the day it knows what to do next when someone is injured, equipment fails, or travelers get lost.

After Opening, the City Welcomes Crowds First

The Sanying Line initially operated with free trial service. The New Taipei City Bureau of Rapid Transit Engineering announced that trial operations would begin at 2:00 PM on June 30, with free rides until August 31. The government viewed this period as a stage to respond to local expectations while collecting riding feedback. ¹¹

Central News Agency recorded another number for the first day of trial operations: from 2:00 PM to 8:00 PM on June 30, 20,731 people rode the train within 6 hours. The Sanying Line adopts a fully automated driverless system, with trains consisting of two-car sets. Peak-hour headways can be as frequent as 2.2 to 3 minutes. The operating team also referred to the trial operations as a "passenger load stress test," used to observe door operations, stopping, acceleration/deceleration, and passenger flow. ³

This number cannot be directly equated with daily commute demand. Free rides, first-time experiences, and summer vacation crowds may all have inflated the first-day ridership. The same Central News Agency article also mentioned that some YouBike stations ran out of bikes, which were later replenished by the operating unit. In other words, the first test of the opening did not just happen inside the train, but also in the last kilometer outside the station. ³

The English Taipei Times report added another scale: during trial operations, daily operating hours were from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM, with formal service hours expected to extend to 6:00 AM to midnight. Fares follow the Taipei and New Taipei Metro's segmented pricing, approximately NT$20 to NT$35. These differences remind us that free trial rides are a launch method, not the complete picture of future services. ¹²

Why Still Take Buses After Opening?

After the Sanying Line opened, buses did not exit the stage; instead, they were rearranged into the capillaries of the rail system. Before the opening, the New Taipei City Bureau of Transportation announced that feeder plans had been completed for all 12 stations. It newly established the Sanying Line 1 and shuttle buses from Yingtao Fude Station to Ming Chuan University (Taoyuan Campus), and adjusted the Sanying Line 2, 706, 707, 731, and 889, as well as shuttle buses from the Beida Community to Dingpu Station. ⁴

This arrangement answers questions the Sanying Line itself cannot answer: not everyone lives next to a station, nor are all destinations at the metro station exit. The Sanying Line 1 connects Yingge Station, Ceramic Old Street Station, Guohua Station, and the TRA Yingge Station. Route 731 extends to the Ceramic Museum, New Taipei Force Plaza, and the Hakka Cultural Park. Buses are therefore not "old systems not yet淘汰ed after the metro is built," but tools that push station service radii into alleys, campuses, and scenic spots. ⁴

The initial timetable directly exposes this division of labor. During trial operations, the Sanying Line did not operate all day. The Sanying Line 2 extended its service to Yongning Station for certain trips between 5:00 AM and 10:00 AM, and between 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM, to care for times when the metro was not yet serving and for passengers originally commuting between Tucheng and Taipei. This indicates that "having a metro" and "being able to rely solely on the metro" are two different things. ⁴

For commuters, the true path is not a single blue line, but a series of choices: take a bus from home to the station, ride the Sanying Line to Dingpu, and then walk to the Bannan Line. Or, during off-peak hours, take existing buses directly to Yongning. The Beida Special District will not suddenly have only one way to travel just because the Sanying Line opened. In February 2026, the Transportation Bureau still listed routes 916, 932, and 910 as the main external express buses for the Beida Special District, and added a 7:10 AM weekday shuttle bus class from "Beida Community to Dingpu Station," aiming to disperse peak-load pressure on existing routes. ^{15 16}

That some people still choose buses after opening does not necessarily mean the metro has failed; it may also represent different transfer distances, waiting times, peak congestion, and destination locations. The New Taipei City Transportation Bureau's opening announcement retained the shuttle bus from Beida Community to Dingpu and allowed the Sanying Line 2 to extend to Yongning during early morning and evening trial operations. Individual reports mentioned residents using route 916 for off-peak commuting. The former is a policy arrangement; the latter is personal experience. Neither can be generalized to the entire commuting population. ^{4 17 15}

Curator's Note: The metro straightens the city; the buses remember that the city is actually not that straight.

Two Cars: Small and Frequent, or Too Small a Capacity?

Each Sanying Line train consists of only two cars. Official basic data lists a length of approximately 36 meters and a capacity of 330 passengers, adopting bidirectional driverless operation. Central News Agency also recorded that during trial operations, peak-hour headways were as frequent as 2.2 to 3 minutes. Putting these two pieces of data together, the design trade-offs of the Sanying Line are clear: it does not carry everyone in very long single-car trains, but operates with shorter sets combined with frequent headways. ^{3 5}

The two-car sets have caused质疑 (questioning), not because "two cars" itself equals error, but because the population of the Sanying area, transfer demands, and free trial crowds have led people to worry about potential capacity bottlenecks in the future. Reports organized positive and negative sides on social media: one side worried about repeating the early congestion experience of the Wenhu Line, while the other believed that short sets could be supplemented by headways, and that the Sanying Line's mission is closer to connecting Sanxia to Dingpu and Yingge transfer nodes. These are public discussions, not completed capacity assessments. ¹⁷

Therefore, the question worth observing is not "whether two cars are good or bad," but whether operators will publicly release ridership, load factors, waiting times, and bus transfer data for different time periods. If trains can stably transport passengers through dense headways, two cars may be a reasonable configuration for a medium-capacity system. If peak-hour queues and waiting times continue to expand, the problem will shift from train appearance to headways, platform capacity, and subsequent public decision-making on expansion. These require post-operation data, not conclusions based on photos from the first day of opening.

Stations Are Not Just for Waiting: Putting Local Stories Into Trains

The public art on the Sanying Line is not decoration added to stations; it was arranged into the narrative from the beginning of the engineering project. Data from the Bureau of Rapid Transit Engineering, reposted by the Ministry of Culture, indicated that the line invited 360 residents to serve as the first batch of "art experience officers," walking into stations and works through guided tours. All 12 stations were also incorporated into the overall design of green buildings and local culture. ¹⁸

The painted trains allowed "stories at every station" to begin moving. The New Taipei City Bureau of Rapid Transit Engineering unveiled two major themed trains in June 2026, using random departure schedules so passengers would not necessarily encounter the same car every time: the Hakka Culture theme used geometric indigo dyeing, May snow (cotton tree flowers), and Dahan River hydrology as visual clues. The New Taipei Fine Arts Museum theme used silver-white colors, light/shadow refraction, and virtual/real lines, extending architectural imagery to the train body. ¹⁹

The interesting part is inside the cars. The subsequently launched Indigenous-themed trains incorporated river imagery, Amis weaving, and Paiwan "Kamlan" figures into the journey. The Taipei University Station platform even played Amis-style music. These painted trains used random departures, meaning you might not encounter them every time you ride, adding a sense of "finding easter eggs" to the commute. ^{20 21}

Image: Minquan Old Street, Sanxia, Taiwan.jpg / Ken Marshall / CC BY 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons; image not cropped. File page

Curator's Note: When trains become moving exhibition halls, public art does not just ask "is it good-looking," but also asks who selected local culture to represent, and who can see it in daily life.

Convenient Access Does Not Mean the Local Area Is Ready

The Sanying Line runs past landmarks such as Sanxia Old Street, Yingge Ceramic Old Street, and the New Taipei Fine Arts Museum. These places already existed; the metro only changes the cost and path of reaching them. When access becomes easier, an increase in visitors, shop re-layout, and re-evaluation of residential and commercial real estate may follow. But these changes cannot be concluded with just four words: "driving development." ^{11 12}

The official plan for urban regeneration around Yingge Station treats LB08 and the TRA Yingge Station as transfer nodes for the Taipei-Taoyuan metropolitan living circle, promoting land reuse and station revitalization through TOD (Transit-Oriented Development) and station city concepts. This is a future image in policy language. The true success or failure still depends on whether the overhead bridge is easy to walk on, whether transfers are intuitive, whether pedestrian space outside the station is continuous, and whether people originally living here can use these improvements. ²

Before the Sanying Line opened, another word of concern for locals was "noise." A January 2026 United Daily News report indicated that train testing drew attention from residents along the line regarding noise and vibration. Relevant units set up measurement points at Sanxia High School, Yingge High School, and surrounding communities, discussing improvement directions such as sound barriers, wheel-rail interactions, and line restoration. These are local opinions and processing progress in reports, and cannot be rewritten as "full-line noise exceeds standards" or "engineering has caused definite harm." ²²

This distinction is important. Public engineering needs measurement data, but also needs people living next to the tracks to describe "what they hear every day." The former answers whether standards are met; the latter reminds us that beyond standards, there are life experiences. Neither can replace the other.

Curator's Note: The metro brings the distant closer, but also concentrates originally scattered problems to stations, under bridges, and residents' windows; "convenience" and "cost" are not an either-or choice, but two sides of the same construction.

Maizaiyuan: The Land Problem Behind a Station

The Maizaiyuan controversy of the Sanying Line is often written as "whether the metro station should be set here," but it actually simultaneously involves station placement, depot location, urban planning, and land acquisition. First, clarify the name: many official and media materials write "Maizaiyuan," while daily discussions often write "Maizi Yuan." This article uses "Maizaiyuan" as the primary term, treating both as different spellings of the same area. ^{6 7}

A 2015 Our Island report indicated that Longpu Village includes settlements such as Liucuo Pu, Maizaiyuan, and Long'en Pu. At that time, the newly designated Maizaiyuan Urban Plan was approximately 128 hectares, of which 82 hectares were planned for development through section-based land acquisition. The New Taipei City government explained that the plan was to respond to the Sanying Line and handle illegal factories; residents worried that farmland, multi-generational residences, and living networks would be scattered. The report also recorded the Ministry of the Interior's Regional Planning Committee raising concerns about the plan's population and scope. These are the plans and controversies of 2015, and cannot be directly treated as the land status completed in 2026. ⁶

A 2016 report focused the controversy on station placement and development necessity: residents and local representatives questioned setting multiple stations within a short distance, believing that Maizaiyuan's population density was not high, and worried that the metro would become a reason for acquisition and land development. The city government responded that the original Maizaiyuan Urban Plan had been suspended, the BL05 Station in Longpu Village would still be constructed, and the route and station placement involved relocation costs, road conditions, and restrictions around the Sanying Bridge. Here are two sets of understandings of public interest; one cannot leave only one set. ⁷

The controversy did not automatically disappear with the train's launch. In 2020, Longpu Village residents still protested the expanded acquisition of land for the LB05 Station depot. The Citizen Action Video Archive Database recorded residents believing that among the 14.1 hectares of land, the actual use of metro facilities and the scope of joint development should be distinguished, questioning the "metro development zone" and developer distribution. The New Taipei City government and Metro Bureau explained that the depot facilities were approximately 12.25 hectares, and adding LB05 entrances/exits and tracks entering/exiting the depot totaled approximately 14.1 hectares, claiming the area was reasonable compared to other similarly sized depots. ⁸

This controversy cannot be simplified into "residents oppose the metro." From reports, residents' claims were supporting transportation improvement, but opposing expanding land acquisition under the name of transportation construction, changing farmland usage, or making the local area bear asymmetric development benefits and costs. A 2015 petition record from the Taiwan Alliance for Promoting Civil Liberties (TAPC) also focused on opposing forced relocation, experiences of previous acquisitions, and the right to reside in century-old settlements. ⁹

For the Sanying Line, the question left by Maizaiyuan is: who does a line serve, and who pays the price first for this line? If you only look at the shortcut after opening, you see saved time. If you look at the depot and land together, you also see farmland, homes, property rights, joint development, and information disclosure. The public nature of the metro must be proven simultaneously on the platform and at the land negotiation table.

Don't Treat the Opening Day as the End of the Story

The timeline of the Sanying Line has a rhythm easily ignored: feasibility studies were approved in 2012, main engineering construction began in 2016, the full line completed "closing the gap" in 2023, and it only entered formal operation in 2026. These nodes are not simply engineering progress, but a process of local expectations being gradually institutionalized. ¹

The most interesting thing in this table is not "how long we waited," but that every completion cannot replace the next completion. Feasibility studies cannot replace construction; "closing the gap" cannot replace testing; inspections cannot replace actual passenger usage. The time of public engineering is often not a straight line, but layers upon layers turning promises into verifiable conditions. ^{10 1 14}

Therefore, the story of the Sanying Line should not be condensed into "built for ten years, finally opened." This phrase has a sense of time, but does not explain why engineering needed to cross different systems: the Executive Yuan's plan approval, the Metro Bureau's construction, the New Taipei Metro Company's operation, and the MOTC's gatekeeping on inspections and operating permits. These institutions jointly completed the line, but every link also left its own boundary of responsibility.

Curator's Note: The opening day is very suitable for photos; what is truly worth remembering are the "needs to be verified again" that cannot be captured in a single photo.

From a Shortcut, Seeing How the Taipei-Taoyuan Living Circle Grows

The terminus of the Sanying Line is currently at Yingtao Fude Station, but the tail track retains the possibility of future extension toward Bade in Taoyuan. Official route descriptions connect this extension with the Taoyuan Green Line, Taoyuan International Airport, High-Speed Rail, and regional intercity rail transfers. The Taipei Times reported that the Bade extension segment is planned to be approximately 4 kilometers, with a goal of completion in 2034. These are planned futures, not services that already exist in the present. ^{1 12 23}

If the extension is realized, the Sanying Line will change from "the first metro for Sanxia and Yingge" to a segment of the Taipei-New Taipei-Taoyuan rail network. But cities will not automatically become more equal just because the line is drawn longer. Whether there are sufficient frequencies, whether transfer distances are reasonable, whether the areas around stations allow pedestrians to pass safely, and whether rental/housing prices push out original residents—these questions will determine whether a line is a public service or just a fast channel passing through the local area.

Returning to that early morning in December 2023, the crane completed the positioning of the final U-shaped beam. What was completed then was "connecting." What was completed on June 30, 2026, was "opening up." What truly needs to be observed next is whether, after the train passes every day, people in Sanxia, Yingge, and Tucheng can reach their desired destinations with less time, and can participate with greater voice in the urban decisions beneath the tracks.

The best ending for the Sanying Line is not that everyone says it brings development, but that commuters, students, travelers, shopkeepers, and local residents can all say how this line changed their paths. And simultaneously point out which promises have not yet been completed.

Further Reading

• New Taipei City Bureau of Rapid Transit Engineering: Sanying Line
• New Taipei City Bureau of Rapid Transit Engineering: Sanying Line Closes the Gap!
• Central News Agency: New Taipei Metro Sanying Line Trial Operations First Day, Over 20,000 People Rush to Ride
• Taipei Times: New Taipei City’s MRT Sanying Line starts services

References