Transportation

Main article: Transportation in Taichung TRA Taichung Station. HSR Taichung Station. Rail

In Taichung, there are two railways in parallel, one is Mountain Line which passes through urban area, and the other is Coastal line which passes through rural area.

Along Mountain Line, there are (from south to north):

Chenggong Station (成功車站) Xinwuri Station (新烏日車站) Wuri Station (烏日車站) Daqing Station (大慶車站) Wuchuan Station (五權車站) - under construction Taichung Station (台中車站) Jingwu Station (精武車站) - under construction Taiyuan Station (太原車站) Songzhu Station (松竹車站) - under construction Toujiacuo Station (頭家厝車站) - under construction Tanzi Station (潭子車站) Fengnan Station (豐南車站) - under construction Fengyuan Station (豐原車站) Houli Station (后里車站) Tai'an Station (泰安車站)

Along Coastal Line, there are (from south to north):

Zhuifen Station (追分車站) Dadu Station (大肚車站) Longjing Station (龍井車站) Shalu Station (沙鹿車站) Qingshui Station (清水車站) Taichung Port Station (台中港車站) Dajia Station (大甲車站) Rinan Station (日南車站)

Taichung Station is located on Jianguo Road (建國路). There is a small square in the front of the station, and numerous bus companies have stations within a three-minute walk of the station. They provide comprehensive local bus service along with long-distance bus services, many of which are to towns not served by trains.

Taichung Station lies on the Taiwan Railway Administration Mountain Line, which splits from the coastal line from Changhua City to the south of Taichung, to Jhunan, near Hsinchu, to the north.

The first southbound train departs for Pingtung at 6:05 in the morning while the first northbound train departs for Taipei at 6:10 am. The last trains in the early morning depart at 2:37 am and 2:46 for Pingtong and respectively.

There are two other local train stations within the city limits of Taichung. They are Taiyuan Station located in Beitun District and Daqing Station in South District. Both are only serviced by local trains.

The new Taiwan High Speed Rail was recently completed, allowing travel to Taipei and Kaohsiung in 90 minutes. The THSR Taichung Station is located in Wuri and is served both by local trains as well as free shuttle buses into the city.

Sea Port Taichung Port.

Taichung Port, located on the coast in Taichung County, is the second largest cargo facility on the island capable of handling container shipping.

Despite being the second largest port on the island of Taiwan, there are no passenger ferry services available and the port is closed to unauthorized personnel.

Inner City Traffic

Unlike other major cities, Taichung has no expressway crossing the city. The heaviest traffic congestion is on Taichung Harbor Road (台中港路), which can come to a stand still not only during rush hour, but also on weekends or late evenings as many of the most popular shopping centers and movie theaters are on that stretch of road. Other busy stretches of road include SanMin Road near Chungyou Department Store and Yizhong Street, especially during late evening, when local cram schools and baseball games typically let out.

The downtown area is roughly a grid pattern with Ziyou Road (自由路) and SanMin （三民路） running southwest to northeast while Zhongzheng Road (中正路) and Linsen Road (林森路) run northwest from the center of the city, in addition to the more narrow one-way roads that follow the grid pattern as well.

A large number of multi-lane roads lead out of the downtown area in all directions. Some of these roads are divided by a physical barrier or median to enhance safety. These roads include Taichung Harbor Road (台中港路), Wuquan West Road (五權西路), Beitun Road (北屯路), Taiyuan Road (太原路), Hanxi Road (旱溪路), Guoguang Road (國光路), Zhongqing Road (中清路,) Wuquan South Road (五權南路) and Wenxin South Road (文心南路).

Stop lights and lane indicators are generally observed on major streets, but are often viewed more as suggestions rather than legally enforced traffic rules unless traffic police officers are present. Speed limits are often not enforced, except where specifically designated speed detection cameras are present and marked with signs, making traffic conditions some of the most dangerous on the island. Most major intersections have traffic signs with Romanized names. However, despite the fact that Taichung City has recently declared Hanyu Pinyin the official romanization system for the city, there are numerous signs leftover from previous romanizations while the a large number of minor intersections have no romanization of any kind. Navigation in Taichung City is extremely difficult for those who are unable to read Chinese characters.

Mass Rapid Transit See also: Taichung Metropolitan Area MRT System The Taichung Downtown Bus Plaza, one block from the Taichung Train Station

The city currently does not have any type of rapid transit system, though construction on the first line of the municipal MRT system is scheduled to begin in October 2009 with completion of the Wurih-Beitun line schedule for completion in 2015 or 2016. Due to the financial problem of Taichung city and the estimate of the central government, the budget of the metro’s second line, as knows as MRT blue line, did not pass under the Parliament in 2009. Taichung city government soon planned another program, Taichung Bus Rapid Transportation (Taichung BRT), to replace the withdrawal of the metro’s second line.

Taichung BRT is now under construction and it will be finished in the end of 2013. Beside the blue line, Taichung city government plans to build seven BRT line in the entire city and the budget is passed.

In order to make the BRT system works more like the metro system, it will have a dedicated BRT line to allow it operating separately and it will have the exclusive and closed stations along the BRT line. Passengers also need to buy the ticket before get in the bus.

While a normal bus system exists covering parts of the city, it is not reliable in all places. Among the bus companies providing local service are Taichung Bus Company (台中客運), Fengyuan Bus Company (豐原客運), Changhua Bus Company (彰化客運), and Presidential Bus Company. While heavily congested areas have buses, other areas have intermittent to no service. While there is theoretically a schedule when buses are to arrive, they are often not reliable. Signs at bus stops are not bilingual, not complete and often, not current.

Freeways and Expressways

National Highway No. 1 (國道一號), also known as the Sun Yat-Sen Freeway, passes through the western part of downtown Taichung and has five interchanges. The northernmost is in Houli District (甲后路), the second in Fengyuan District (中山路), the next two are in Xitun District (中清路 and 中港路), another in Nantun District (五權西路), and the southernmost is in Dadu District (沙田路). It also has one junction with National Highway No. 4 in Shengang District.

The second most important North-South freeway, the National Highway No. 3, passes through the city, it has four interchanges, the first in Dajia District (甲后路), the next in Shalu District (明德路), another in Longjing District (中興路), and the northernmost in Wuri District (環中路).

The only national highway completely within the city limits of Taichung is the National Highway No. 4, connecting (from East to West) the districts of Fengyuan, Shengang and Qingshui, and has two junctions, one with Highway No. 1 and the other with Highway No. 3.

Taichung-Changhua Expressway (中彰快速道路,) is the main stretch of Provincial Highway No. 74 that runs from northwestern Taichung City into the northern part of Changhua City just to the south of Taichung. At some points, it is just a few dozen meters east of the Sun Yat-Sen Freeway. While it does not connect directly to that highway, it does have an interchange with National Highway No. 3 (國道三號) in Wuri District, where one can then access it in a couple of minutes.

Taichung-Nantou Highway (中投公路,) also known as Provincial Highway No. 63, runs from Dali District to Nantou County. It can be accessed by driving on Wuquan South Road. While there is no direct interchange with National Highway No. 3, one can get off in Wufeng and, after about two minutes on surface roads, easily access the highway.

Taichung International Airport Taichung Airport. Main article: Taichung Airport

The Taichung International Airport is the third and newest international airport in Taiwan. The Taichung International Airport civilian terminal is located on the western corner of Ching Chuan Kang Air Base (CCK), about 20 kilometers (12 mi) from downtown Taichung City. The main road linking Taichung and the airport is Zhongqing Road (Provincial Route 10). The airport is located within a kilometer (1,100 yd) of the Shalu (沙鹿) Exit on National Highway Number 3.

In 2002, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications began working on a plan to move air traffic from Taichung's ShuiNan Airport to the CCK Air Force base as a first step to converting CCK into a new international airport to facilitate larger aircraft.

The airport opened in early 2004, and the expanded facility at CCK Air Force Base has a much longer runway capable of handling larger aircraft. International charter flight service from the city began the same day.

The opening of The Taichung International Airport did spark a spat of partisan controversies about being incomplete and safety concerns were raised. The fact that Taiwan has more airports per capita than any other country in the region and prohibits private airplanes fell on deaf ears because the anticipated and protracted opening of direct links with the Chinese mainland are expected to require an increase in air traffic.

Taichung's airport currently handles daily scheduled flights between Taichung and the cities of Taipei and Hualian, as well as the offshore islands of Penghu (Pescadores) and Kinmen. Airlines operating out of Taichung include Mandarin and UNI. International air services are expected to continue growing to include charter flights between Taichung and South Korea, plus special charter flights to other destinations and possibly the Chinese mainland.