Long-delayed rail link to open on May 15
The remaining Hung HomAdmiralty section of the long-overdue Sha Tin-Central link, Hong Kong’s most expensive rail project yet, will fully open on May 15, marking the end of a scheme plagued by repeated delays and cost overruns.
Secretary for Transport and Housing Frank Chan Fan yesterday said relevant tests and trial runs on the cross-harbour section of the HK$90.7 billion link had been completed and it would be ready for launch in the middle of this month, ahead of the revised target date in June or July. The project is the city’s fourth cross-harbour rail corridor.
Chan pledged to draw a lesson from past blunders related to the project, saying improvements were under way.
“We have enhanced our scrutiny and supervision of the project and related procedures,” he said. “We will learn a lesson from the past and let past experience guide us for the future.”
He also shed some light on the fate of cross-border intercity through-train services from Hung Hom to Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai following recent rumours of their termination, saying a review was under way.
Jacob Kam Chak-pui, CEO of railway operator the MTR Corporation, said commuters would be able to travel from the northeastern New Territories to the heart of Hong Kong Island without changing trains, which would “energise the century-old rail service [the East Rail line]” and “keep Hong Kong moving”.
The corporation and its contractors had been under investigation on several occasions – including through a government-appointed commission of inquiry, an investigation by an expert team of officials and an auditors’ review – for their handling of the project, which has been plagued by shoddy work and cover-ups.
The section, also known as the cross-harbour extension of the East Rail line from Hung Hom station to Admiralty station, via the new Exhibition Centre stop at Wan Chai North, will see the rail line extending to 46km through 16 stations. It will take about 13 minutes from Admiralty to Kowloon Tong via the new line, seven minutes to Hung Hom and three minutes to the Exhibition Centre station.
With the new extension, the East Rail line will become the fourth cross-harbour railway route that will directly connect the northeastern New Territories, central Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. Passengers will be able to reach the commercial, convention, exhibition and financial hubs in the Wan Chai North and Admiralty areas without changing lines.
Admiralty station will become a core interchange for the cross-harbour rail lines.
Under a service concession agreement with the government-owned Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC), the MTR Corp will have to pay HK$1.03 billion to the KCRC for using its property and operating the overall Sha Tin-Central link over 10 years. The KCRC’s railway operations, including the East Rail line, were merged with those of the MTR Corp in 2007.
Using a new signalling system, the nine-car trains on the extended East Rail line will run at 2.7-minute intervals during peak hours, with journeys between Tai Wai and Admiralty taking only 17 minutes without the need of an interchange, 11 minutes faster than using indirect routes.
A trip between Sheung Shui and Admiralty will only take 40 minutes, 15 minutes less than the previous routing, while a journey between Sha Tin and Causeway Bay will take 27 minutes compared with 36 minutes before.
Fares for existing East Rail line trips remain unchanged while those for travelling between Hung Hom and Exhibition Centre will cost HK$10.10, the same as for other cross-harbour railways.
The MTR Corp’s Hong Kong transport services director, Jeny Yeung Mei-chun, said passengers could enjoy interchange discounts of HK$2 per trip at designated franchised bus routes at Exhibition Centre station.
Sammy Wong Kwan-wai, the MTR Corp’s chief of operating and metro segment, said smart facilities called “Cross-Harbour Easy” would be placed on the concourse and interchange platform of Admiralty station showing realtime train-waiting images for passengers to choose time-saving routes.
A passenger information display system will be put up at every platform on the line and on the MTR mobile app to show the loading capacity of each train car, so commuters can choose those with more space.
“We will also dispatch empty trains during peak hours to ease the congestion problems at platforms. We believe we can cope with the rise in passenger demand,” he said.
We will learn a lesson from the past and let past experience guide us for the future
FRANK CHAN, SECRETARY FOR TRANSPORT AND HOUSING