Making tracks
“‘First train’ draws crowds,” ran a South China Morning Post headline on December 1, 1975. “The new Hunghom railway station began its first day of operation yesterday drawing tens of thousands of people who turned up to take a train ride to the New Territories,” the story continued.
“The first train left the Hunghom terminus at 8.26 am. Souvenir tickets […] were sold out in 15 minutes [...] all tickets issued for the train were endorsed with ‘First Train from Hunghom’”.
On November 25, the Post had provided extensive coverage of the inauguration of the terminus, which was “officially opened yesterday by the Acting Governor, Sir Denys Roberts”. Describing it as “the latest addition to the modernisation of Hongkong’s transport system”, the report added that the terminus cost
HK$150 million.
Roberts noted that Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR) passenger traffic had quadrupled to more than 14 million a year over the previous two decades and that
goods traffic had grown about ninefold to
1.2 million tons over the same period.
“The new station will ultimately be capable of handling more than 10,000 passengers an hour and up to 5,000 tons of freight a day,” the Post explained. “It occupies a 30-acre [12hectare] site adjoining the Kowloon end of the Cross-Harbour Tunnel and is accessible on foot and by road and ferry. A link-up with the Mass Transit Railway, now under construction, has also been proposed.”
Roberts added that the terminus would be a focal point for both transport services in Kowloon and for servicing the mainland’s export trade to Hong Kong.
The Post first reported plans to relocate the KCR terminus from Tsim Sha Tsui to Hung Hom on January 13, 1960, adding the project would “release valuable land and allow for the general re-planning of the Kowloon Point area”. All that remains of the original station is the TST Clock Tower.
Post Magazine // December 2, 2018