The C341 stands out among other Taipei Metro trains for not being directly procured by the Department of Rapid Transit Systems (DORTS) but rather by Continental Engineering Corporation, the project contractor of the Tucheng Line.

Continental Engineering initially intended to procure the new trains from KOROS (joint-venture between Hyundai-Rotem and Daewoo, now Hyundai Rotem) of South Korea but this proposal was rejected by DORTS.

Hence, Continental Engineering decided to purchase six new six-car trainsets from Siemens, the supplier of the earlier C321 trains, at NT$ 2,248 million; the price per car for the C341 was hence 1.5 times more than that for the C321, which were directly procured by DORTS.

Most notably, the trains initially did not have side LED destination displays or line colour indicators as they could not be installed during the warranty period.

As the C341 trains have been in service for nearly 20 years, the TRTC announced the tender for the first time to propose a traction system replacement together with the C321 in February 2021.