2025-12-2
(Courtesy of Taiwan Panorama November 2025)
Joanna Wang /photo by Lin Min-hsuan
The 2025 edition of the Taiwan Lantern Festival was held in Taoyuan in February. At its peak, over 270,000 people poured in to enjoy the shows within just a single day. Having to cope with more than twice the normal volume of passengers, Taoyuan Metro faced one of the most formidable challenges since its establishment in 2017. A contingency plan was swiftly activated, and orderly operations were gradually restored the next day, demonstrating the young corporation’s flexibility and adaptability.
During the festival, the rapid transit network was transformed into a wonderland of fabulous lights and cutting-edge technology. From ornamental lighting and train décor to AI-driven games, every installation made passengers feel as if they had entered a theme park.
Rather than merely catering to local transport needs, Taoyuan Metro welcomes visitors from far and wide with the city’s warmth and creativity.
Global connections
Five cities in Taiwan have metros. What’s special about Taoyuan’s metro is that the only one of its lines already in service—the Taoyuan Airport MRT line—is also the only rail line that serves Taoyuan International Airport. The Airport MRT links the airport to the cities of Taoyuan, New Taipei, and Taipei, and connects with the Taiwan High Speed Rail and Taiwan Railway networks. Setting out from the airport, a passenger can easily navigate these public transport systems and travel to Keelung Harbor and coastal Tamsui, or meander through mountainous regions to the historic streets of Pingxi and Jingtong in New Taipei. The Airport MRT is a vital artery whose local pulses are in tune with the wider world.
Since the line entered service in 2017, Taoyuan Metro has been actively seeking international collaborations, showcasing Taiwan to the the world even as it learns from other countries’ experience.
Japan is the first of Taoyuan Metro’s global partners. In view of the many Taiwanese tourists contributing to Japan’s economy each year, Japanese stakeholders have been keen to consider Taoyuan Metro’s collaborative proposals. The most eye-catching result to arise from these exchanges is a series of specially designed train wraps.
International collaborations
In 2018 Taoyuan Metro joined forces with Japan’s Nankai Electric Railway to bring out a Taoyuan-themed “Rapi:t” train on Nankai’s network, combining Taoyuan Metro’s signature purple color with local scenic spots such as Mt. Lala, Daxi Old Street, and Shimen Reservoir. The following year saw its collaboration with Hanshin Electric Railway on a new train wrap for one of Hanshin’s trains, inspired by floral patterns from traditional Hakka textiles and sporting a variety of images representative of Taiwanese culture and cuisine, including Prince Nezha, temple deities’ palanquins, soup dumplings, and pearl milk tea.
In 2023 a partnership with Keisei Electric Railway led to the creation of a train wrap featuring Taoyuan Metro’s mascot Dongdong (a Formosan whistling thrush), to introduce the charm of Taoyuan to passengers traveling between stations in Chiba and Tokyo, such as Narita, Ueno, and Haneda. Keisei also launched a blue-and-white train in Taiwan, evoking the iconic Skyliner which operates between Narita Airport and Tokyo. It caused a stir among local train buffs.
This year, Taoyuan Metro has again collaborated with Nankai on a train art project. International visitors to Expo 2025 in Osaka were tantalized by glimpses of Taoyuan’s beauty through the seasons on the Nankai train, while the new graphics for the Taoyuan Metro train bustle with cartoon images promoting Japan’s Kansai region, such as Osaka’s Tsutenkaku Tower, Mt. Koya, and Sakai City.
Yu Jinjun, deputy director of Taoyuan Metro’s planning department, tells us that Japanese people have a soft spot for themed trains. The Hanshin train with Hakka floral patterns, for example, remained in operation for years and was still popular. When Taiwanese tourists spot the word “Taiwan” prominently displayed on these trains, they feel the warmth of home.
In addition to gorgeous train wraps, passengers are especially attracted by travel passes that cover rides both in Taiwan and abroad at discounted prices. Taoyuan Metro partnered with Nankai Electric Railway, Taoyuan International Airport, and Kansai International Airport to launch a pass which facilitated travel to and from these airports. The widely acclaimed scheme was even featured in Japanese media.
More recently, another travel pass has been released for rides to and from Taoyuan International Airport, combined with journeys on South Korea’s Airport Railroad Express (AREX), which runs between Incheon International Airport and Seoul.
Learning from the world
As a young corporation, Taoyuan Metro is learning about brand management, property development, and professional dedication from Nankai and Hanshin, both of which are more than a century old. From pre-departure “point and call” safety checks to the rule that staff should not occupy passenger seats, every detail attests to Taoyuan Metro’s rigorous approach. Supported by a robust management structure, the corporation maintains outstanding standards in safety, punctuality, and customer service.
As trains in Japan are closely bound up with urban life, there’s a lot of potential for collaboration with popular sites or destinations such as department stores, hotels, and zoos. Even though Taoyuan Metro is publicly owned, it teams up with the private sector to expand the scope of its operations. For example, in collaboration with the Taoyuan-based professional baseball team Rakuten Monkeys, it has launched a special train and day passes featuring four of the players, as well as transforming its Station A19 (Taoyuan Sports Park) into a baseball-themed station. By bringing together public transport and baseball culture, Taoyuan Metro contributes to the vibrancy of the city.
South Korea’s AREX is often praised for offering air travelers check-in and bag-drop services before they arrive at the airport. Although Taoyuan Metro also allows passengers to check in early at Stations A1 (Taipei Main Station) and A3 (New Taipei Industrial Park), there is room for improvement in terms of publicity and usage rate.
Last year, Taoyuan Metro established a “sister metros” relationship with Singapore’s SMRT, and SMRT joined the Metro Alliance set up by the metro systems in Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, and Kaohsiung. This international collaboration—the first of its kind in Taiwan’s rail transport industry—enables Taoyuan Metro to learn from SMRT’s experience of operating in a multilingual and multiethnic environment. For example, SMRT makes announcements in four languages and puts up decorations for festivals observed by different ethnic communities, with a view to creating a friendly public space that celebrates diversity.
In recent years, Taoyuan Metro has worked hard to optimize its operational and maintenance capacities through 5G and its own Metro Monitoring and Analysis Reporting System, as well as integrating smart and AI solutions. Demonstrating the strength of Taiwan’s smart technologies and train services, it has won international recognition.
A key to urban development
Taoyuan Metro not only serves as a vital public transport link between Taoyuan International Airport and metropolitan Taipei, but also plays a pivotal role in Taoyuan’s development. Su Jun-pin, deputy mayor of Taoyuan, says that with the city’s population now exceeding 2.3 million, it is high time to rethink land use plans. As railways continue to move underground, and with Taoyuan Metro’s Green Line set to open in phases, Taoyuan District and Zhongli District—each with over 400,000 residents—will become more seamlessly connected through an orbital network, just like the circle route of Tokyo’s Yamanote Line. “In 20 years, Taoyuan will certainly look very different.”
As Taoyuan Metro grows, the city no longer just represents Taiwan’s gateway to the world; it is well poised to provide a vibrant setting for colorful stories of its own.
Carrying people’s dreams
A train buff himself, Su believes that the charm of metros and railways consists in their role as culture bearers, capable of carrying people’s dreams and feelings. As enablers of life’s journeys, they have always been much more than convenient means of transport. Through various themed collaborations, Taoyuan Metro envisions its trains as vehicles of stories and seeks to incorporate its services into the daily lives of locals.
Taoyuan Metro’s Pokémon Air Adventures carriages, for example, proved so popular that they were allowed to run longer than originally planned. The corporation also invited children from indigenous communities to ride a train adorned with characters from the Japanese anime series Shima Shima Tora no Shimajirō. Su was deeply touched when he saw the happy faces of these children, many whom had never got on a metro train before.
In August 2025 Taoyuan Metro worked with Dcard’s “dtto friends”—a group of seven cute characters licensed for various kinds of merchandise—to create a new train wrap. This ongoing collaboration also includes engaging activities such as psychological tests and collecting stamps to redeem plushies, turning each ride into a cherishable experience.
Providing public access to and from the airport, Taoyuan’s metro represents both the first and the last leg of many international tourists’ journeys in Taiwan. The special graphics on the trains serve to bring passengers closer to the island’s true spirit, bestowing a quiet joy that lingers. The story of Taiwan is thus etched into the memory of every passenger.
