Taichung Mass Rapid Transit Extension

Designing a cost-effective, easy-to-maintain floating slab railway track

The Taichung Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, also known as the Taichung Metro, serves the second-largest city in Taiwan. The system includes track running on viaducts, which causes ground-borne vibrations and noise that can lead to significant disturbances. RWDI provided the noise and vibration design to address these issues, as well as the design of the floating slab track to isolate vibration. Our innovative floating slab – where the concrete slab is supported on rubber pads – provided a less expensive system. One major benefit is that it is easy to jack up the slab later to replace a rubber pad if required. Our innovative design has since been used for a number of other projects across Taiwan.