In 2003, the Department of Rapid Transit Systems of Taipei ordered 321 subway cars from Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Among these vehicles, 144 of them was to be used on the then-upcoming Luzhou and Xinzhuang Sections of the Zhonghe-Xinlu line whereas the remaining 177 cars were to increase the capacity of the existing network. As part of the Industrial Cooperation Program mandated by the Taiwanese government, the first half of trains were built by Kawasaki at its rolling stock plant in Hyōgo whereas the other half was to be built domestically by the Taiwan Rolling Stock Company. The C371 trains were built in two different batches:
The first batch of trains were completely built-up by Kawasaki in Japan and were part of contracts TA001, CH321A and CE361 for the Nangang section eastern extension of the Bannan line.
The second batch of trains were built specifically for the Zhonghe-Xinlu line and were part of contracts CE601 and CK371. Sets 419 to 430 were built by Kawasaki whereas the remainder were assembled from complete knock-down kits imported from Nippon Sharyo by TRSC.
In 2006, the first C371 trainset was introduced into service on the Xiaonanmen Line. Deliveries of the trains continued until June 2009.
Overview
The C371 retains a largely similar design seen on the C301, C321 and C341. Unlike its earlier counterparts however, the C371 had several differences as follows:
The C371 uses a quieter IGBT-VVVF from Mitsubishi Electric as compared to earlier train types.
The end cars now feature completely longitudinal seating instead of transverse seating traditionally used on Taipei MRT trains.
The passenger doors now use electric door actuators instead of pneumatic ones.
Security cameras were already installed onboard the trains when new.
The second batch trains use a different design of emergency communication button from the first batch.
Set 399
In 2009, Kawasaki also supplied a 3-car set numbered by DORTS as 399 for the Xinbeitou branch line. Set 399 notably stood out among the other C371 trainsets as it was designed as a concept advertisement train to promote the hot springs in Xinbeitou. While sharing the same technical specifications with the other C371 trainsets, set 399 had a multi-colour livery and featured a unique interior design with the theme of onsen in mind.
Fleet numbering
A complete six-car trainset consists of an identical twin set of one driving motor car, one trailer car and one intermediate motor car permanently coupled together. The configuration of a six-car C371 trainset in revenue service is DM1–T–M2–M2–T–DM1 whereas that for a three-car trainset is DM-T-DM. Each car is assigned its own four-digit serial number, which ranges from x301 to x338, x397 to x399, and x401 to x430.
The first digit indicates the position of the car. Hence, DM1 cars use the number x=1, T cars x=2, and M2 cars x=3
The other three digits are the identification number of the train the car is part of. A full-length train of six cars consists of two identification numbers, one for the first three cars, and another for the second three. The bigger number is always equal to the smaller number plus one, and the smaller number is always an odd number. For example, a train of six cars would have serial numbers 1301, 2301, 3301, 3302, 2302, and 1302, respectively.
