This page details all of the station memorial stamps for the Taoyuan Airport Metro. Each and every MRT (and train) station in Taiwan has its own unique stamp and collecting them can either be a fun way to explore new places, or else a way to make mundane trips more fun.
Basic information: The Taoyuan Airport Line went into service in 2017, and provides a convenient and swift connection between central Taipei and Taiwan’s biggest international airport. There are two types of services offered on this route: commuter and express. The commuter services use blue-liveried trains with a long row of seating—much like a standard MRT carriage—and stop at every station, while the express services have purple livery and seating that looks more like a train. The express services start from Taipei Main Station, and stops at New Taipei Industrial Park, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, and both the airport terminals. Unlike the other lines, there is not a detailed description provided for the contents of each stamp, so working out what each shows has required a little sleuthing.
Most of the service operates on elevated rails, with just a few sections around Taipei Main Station, Taoyuan Airport, and the final couple of stops running underground.
Number of stations: 22 at present (a 23rd and 24th are expected when terminal three opens and when the line is connected up with Zhongli Train Station at some point in the future).
Length: 51.3km
Stamp description: The Taoyuan Airport MRT commemorative stamps have either blue or purple ink pads and are circular in shape. Unlike the main MRT network’s stamps, each one features a character that is in some way related the area around the station.
Station music:
A1 – Taipei Main Station (台北車站)
Taipei Main Station has at least four stamps: one for the blue and red metro lines, one for the TRA station, a third for the HSR station, and then this one. Of the three, this one is probably the cutest. It shows a couple wrapped up in winter clothes to watch the Taipei 101 fireworks.
A2 – Sanchong (三重)
The stamp for this station shows a grandma and child out and enjoying the vast expanse of New Taipei Metropolitan Park.
A3 – New Taipei Industrial Park (新北產業園區)
The stamp for this station shows what I guess might be an office worker in front of the Crown Plaza shopping mall.
A4 – Xinzhuang Fuduxin (新莊副都心)
I’m pretty sure the Xinzhuang Fuduxin stamp depicts the Executive Yuan Xinzhuang Joint Office Towers (行政院新莊聯合辦公大樓), so perhaps the glasses-wearing, book-reading figure is meant to be a well-educated public servant?
A5 – Taishan (泰山)
This stamp shows a young woman holding a fan in front of a what looks like the front entrance to a temple. This could be Taishan Lower Temple, but I’m not convinced that the design matches up.
A6 – Taishan Guihe (泰山貴和)
This stamp shows the slightly curved form of Fujen Catholic University Hospital, but I’m not sure who the figures are. A grandparent and grandchild? A professor and a student?
A7 – National Taiwan Sports University (體育大學)
This station’s stamp shows the sports centre and running track of Taiwan National Sports University, along with a basketball vest-wearing student.
A8 – Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (長庚醫院)
The hospital station features its rather uninspiring-looking namesake, as well as a mother and new baby who have (presumably) just been discharged from the hospital.
A9 – Linkou (林口)
Like several of the other stations, it’s seems that (depressingly) Linkou’s greatest claim to fame is the huge shopping mall that was built alongside the metro line. Naturally, the character featured on this stamp is a hat-wearing, sunglasses-toting young shopper.
A10 – Shanbi (山鼻)
Shanbi’s stamp shows Luzhu’s Dexin Ancestral Hall (蘆竹德馨堂). This beautiful old Fujian-style building—once home to the Chen Family—is right beside the station, and is open to visitors on the weekends. While it is probably the best-maintained, there are lots of other old buildings in this part of Taiwan, several of which you can see out of the window on the way between Linkou and Shanbi.
A11 – Kengkou (坑口)
Kengkou Station’s stamp features a pig-tailed artist in front of one of the buildings that have been painted in nearby Kengkou Painted Village (坑口彩繪村). This is just a five-minute bike ride away from the station and it’s beside a temple with some rather unique statues, so it’s worth hopping on a YouBike to pay it a quick visit.
A12 – Airport Terminal 1 (機場第一航廈)
The stamp for the first of the two airport terminals features a tourist looking at a map as a plane soars over the elegant bird-in-flight-inspired Terminal 1.
A13 – Airport Terminal 2 (機場第二航廈)
The stamp for the second airport terminal stamp shows a moustachioed and bearded traveller (I’m pretty sure all that facial hair is a visual shortcut to suggest “foreigner”) in front of terminal two and the air traffic controllers’ tower.
A14 – Airport Hotel (機場旅館)
A dozy traveller with a travel pillow graces the front of the Airport Hotel station stamp. Behind him is the rather bland frontage of Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport.
A15 – Dayuan (大園)
Dayuan’s stamp shows Chedianpi Lake (車店埤) with a plane rising behind it. The figure featured in this image is holding a camera, which is presumably a nod to Terminal 3 Coffee Shop—a popular hang out for people who like to watch and photograph planes taking off and landing.
A16 – Hengshan (橫山)
This station’s stamp shows a flower farmer (or maybe just a flower enthusiast) at Xihai Flora Park (溪海花卉園區). If you’re a flower lover, you might want to pick up this stamp in April, when the park holds its annual Calla Lily Festical.
A17 – Linghang (領航)
Linghang’s stamp is a bit of a mystery. Some commentators online think it is the (permanently closed) Aviation Vision Exhibition Centre, but I think it might also be a self-referential inclusion of the Taoyuan MRT Corporation’s offices—primarily because the figure on this stamp looks like he’s wearing the MRT staff gilet.
A18 – Taoyuan HSR Station (高鐵桃園站)
A business person (I think) is answering a phone and making notes as a train speeds by behind him. Judging by the train’s nose, it’s neither the Airport MRT nor the HSR, but I guess it is meant to be the latter. Behind the train line you can also see Gloria Outlet’s sprawling form.
A19 – Taoyuan Sports Park (桃園體育園區)
The Taoyuan Sports Park station stamp features a pair of what I guess are baseball fans taking a selfie outside the crinkle-roofed Rakuten Taoyuan Baseball Stadium.
A20 – Xingnan (興南)
Xingan’s stamp offers little in the way of discernable features, save for the woman with her pet dog in a travel cage. To be fair, the stamps’ designer must have been getting desperate by this point because there is pitifully little to work with in the stretch of land between the airport and here. It is mostly soulless new-build apartment blocks gathered around equally soulless shopping malls.
A21 – Huanbei (環北)
Huanbei’s stamp shows flowers and trees, which may or may not be the riverside park right beside the station. I walked along the park from here to the last stop and enjoyed seeing it all lit up at night.
A22 – Laojie River (老街溪)
The final (for now) stamp along the Airport MRT shows a woman standing outside the entrance to Laojie Station.
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