Rail-to-Earth Resistance Assessment: A Medium Capacity Transit System with Continuous Negative Rails by Potential Measurement

The Brown Line of the Taipei Rapid Transit System is the only rubber-tire medium capacity line in the system. The first phase of its construction was launched in 1988, and revenue service began in 1996. It was frequently referred to as the Muzha Line, as the route runs from the Taipei Zoo in the southeast suburb of Muzha to the vicinity of the Taipei Songshan Airport in the northeast side of the downtown commercial district [1]. The two-track line was built on single reinforced-concrete beam structures supported on reinforced-concrete columns [2], except in a short tunnel. The second phase was an extension to the Taipei Songshan Airport terminal and then to the suburb of Neihu, so it was also referred to as the Neihu Line. The section of the second-phase route near Taipei Songshan Airport was built in an underground tunnel, while the rest of the route was built on single reinforced-concrete beam structures supported on reinforced-concrete columns, like the Muzha Line. Figure 1 shows the schematic route map of the Brown Line with labeling of selected stations. Note that the stations of the first phase were labeled as BR2 through BR13, and the stations of the second phase were labeled as B1 through B11, plus BR1 as the Taipei Songshan Airport Station.