Circular light rail


The Circular light rail is a light rail line in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, operated by Kaohsiung Rapid Transit. The south part of this line makes use of the defunct tracks of the Kaohsiung Harbour Line.
Forecast to cost 16.5 billion New Taiwan dollars, it is expected 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 and, respectively. Construction of Phase I began on 4 June 2013. Stations C1 to C14 were tested from August 2015. The civil construction part of stations C1 to C14 had been completed, and Phase I achieved full operations on September 2017. 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 onwards.
Phase II construction will not start until the Kaohsiung urban railway is relocated underground in 2017. It is scheduled to be completed in 2019.

Stations

Rolling stock

The line's fleet consist of nine CAF Urbos trams that will operate catenary-free. The tramway cars are in length, and will be able to transport a total of 250 passengers.
15 Alstom Citadis X05 305 trains will be introduced in 2018. The first train will arrive in Taiwan in September 2018.

Ticket

Unlike the Kaohsiung MRT Red Line and the Orange Line, the Kaohsiung Light Rail is charged at a lower rate. As of January 2019, the fare for each light rail is NT$30. There is special offer by using the digital wallet is NT$10. Card readers are available at each station and inside of tramway. When paying the fare by the e-ticket, passengers are only charged one of them at each time. When paying by cash, passengers can purchase tickets at the ticket vending machines at each station for the ticket inspector to check.

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.