TAIPEI, Taiwan — Travelers and commuters using Taiwan’s Taoyuan Airport MRT will soon have another option during the busy evening rush, with an additional weekday train being added from Taipei Main Station to Taoyuan International Airport.
Taoyuan Metro Corp. announced that the new service will begin September 21, 2026, with a regular local train departing A1 Taipei Main Station at 6:04 p.m. on weekdays. The train will stop at every station and is scheduled to reach A13 Airport Terminal 2 at 6:50 p.m.
The additional service is designed primarily to ease heavy evening congestion, particularly among commuters and students traveling from Taipei toward New Taipei’s Xinzhuang district and Taoyuan’s Linkou and Guishan areas.
Evening train intervals will get shorter
The extra service will increase the number of trains operating toward the airport between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.
According to Taoyuan Metro, the average interval during that period will fall to approximately 5.5 minutes, compared with about six minutes previously.
While the change may appear small, the operator expects the additional train to help distribute passengers more evenly during one of the busiest periods of the day.
Importantly, the new 6:04 p.m. service is a regular train that stops at every station, rather than an express service.
Passengers heading farther south will need to transfer
Travelers continuing toward Taoyuan HSR Station at A18 or Zhongli should take note of the train’s route.
The additional service terminates at Airport Terminal 2 (A13). Passengers traveling farther toward A18 or Zhongli can get off at A13 and transfer to a subsequent train, according to Taoyuan Metro.
For airport passengers, the added service also provides another option for reaching the airport from central Taipei during the evening commute.
Record ridership is driving the expansion
The timing of the additional train comes as the Taoyuan Airport MRT experiences unprecedented passenger demand.
Average daily ridership reached 130,681 passengers through the end of August, a record high for the system, according to Taoyuan Metro.
The line has increasingly become more than an airport connection. Large numbers of workers and students use it as a daily commuter route linking Taipei with parts of New Taipei and Taoyuan.
Taoyuan Metro has added 17 services since 2023 as it works to expand capacity and respond to growing demand.
A small schedule change with a bigger impact
The Taoyuan Airport MRT connects Taipei with Taoyuan International Airport and surrounding communities, making it an important part of northern Taiwan’s transportation network.
The latest timetable adjustment shows how the line is adapting as passenger numbers continue to rise.
For people traveling during the evening rush, an additional train could mean less crowding and a slightly more flexible commute.
For airport passengers, meanwhile, the message is simple: another train will soon be waiting in Taipei during the evening peak.
And with ridership continuing to climb, the bigger question may be whether one extra train will be enough to keep up with Taiwan’s rapidly growing airport rail demand.
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