Qualla: Kaohsiung Metro https://qualla.com/kaohsiung-metro en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:37 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/kaohsiung-metro-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Kaohsiung Metro https://qualla.com/kaohsiung-metro Kaohsiung Metro: Introduction https://qualla.com/kaohsiung-metro/ Photo credit Heeheemalu, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 2005, the city of Kaohsiung was building the second metro system in Taiwan's history when two scandals hit almost simultaneously. First, investigations revealed that Thai migrant workers constructing the tunnels had been subjected to inhumane conditions, with kickbacks flowing to politicians from the contractor. The Thai Prime Minister intervened, asking the workers to return home, and the chairperson of Taiwan's Council of Labor Affairs resigned. Then, in December, a section of the Orange Line tunnel in eastern Kaohsiung collapsed during construction, taking a road tunnel above it down as well. The metro that was supposed to modernize southern Taiwan had instead become a national embarrassment. It opened anyway, three years later, and what emerged from the wreckage was something nobody expected: a transit system that treated public art as seriously as it treated public transportation.

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Image: Heeheemalu | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/kaohsiung-metro-wp/wsj8-kaohsiung-metro-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Kaohsiung Metro: Twenty Years in the Making https://qualla.com/kaohsiung-metro/ Photo credit Rybloo, CC BY-SA 3.0. Kaohsiung's city government commissioned a feasibility study for rapid transit in 1987, when the city was still primarily an industrial port. Favorable results led to years of lobbying the central government for approval and funding. The first phase, covering the Red and Orange l...

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Image: Rybloo | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/kaohsiung-metro-wp/wsj8-kaohsiung-metro-twenty-years-in-the-making.mp3 0:06 2 full Kaohsiung Metro: The System Takes Shape https://qualla.com/kaohsiung-metro/ Photo credit Peellden, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Red Line opened for service on March 9, 2008, after four days of free test rides in February. The Orange Line followed on September 14. Together, the two lines comprise thirty-eight stations spanning 42.7 kilometers, with twenty-seven stations underground, nine elevated, and ...

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Image: Peellden | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/kaohsiung-metro-wp/wsj8-kaohsiung-metro-the-system-takes-shape.mp3 0:06 3 full Kaohsiung Metro: Art Underground https://qualla.com/kaohsiung-metro/ Photo credit Peellden, CC BY-SA 3.0. What distinguishes Kaohsiung Metro from most transit systems is its commitment to integrating art into infrastructure. Three stations feature major commissioned works by international artists. Formosa Boulevard Station houses the Dome of Light, a thirty-meter glass installation b...

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Image: Peellden | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/kaohsiung-metro-wp/wsj8-kaohsiung-metro-art-underground.mp3 0:06 4 full Kaohsiung Metro: A City Reinvented https://qualla.com/kaohsiung-metro/ Photo credit vegafish, vegafish in zh-wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.5. Kaohsiung Metro has always been a bet on transformation. The city built the system not because it already had the ridership to justify it but because it believed the metro would help shift Kaohsiung's identity from industrial port to modern metropolis. That bet has been uneven. R...

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]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/kaohsiung-metro-wp/wsj8-kaohsiung-metro-a-city-reinvented.mp3 0:06 5 full