Hong Kong Prepares To Expand Rail Network

International Railway Journal, May, 2000

Hong Kong's Second Railway Development Study should have been completed by the end of last year, but as of early last month, it still had not appeared. The government is saying nothing ahead of publication, but some pointers to future developments were given at the Asia Pacific Rail 2000 conference in Hong Kong in March.

INTRODUCTION in Hong Kong of low speed maglev trains is being considered as one of the means of tackling noise pollution. Environmental issues have been pushed up the political agenda in recent years and rail's superior environmental credentials persuaded the government to emphasise priority for rail over road in its recent Comprehensive Transport Strategy.

But operating railways and railways under construction are not totally immune from environmental problems. There was a time, for example, when construction teams could work round the clock 365 days a year to build a new line. Now that Hong Kong has politicians (as one speaker put it), significant restrictions have been imposed that will add both to costs and construction times.

Mr Chai-Kwong Mak, principal government engineer in the Railway Development Office of the Hong Kong Highways Department, noted that noise pollution was a growing concern and while what is called a multi-plenum system encompassing both vehicles and infrastructure had been developed to control noise emissions on conventional railways, other measures may become necessary.

"We are thinking of low-speed maglev operating in the 100 to 150km/h range," he told the conference. Mak added that it was a new idea with the principal objective of overcoming the noise constraints arising from conventional train operation. The main advantage so far as noise is concerned is the absence of any wheel-rail contact.

He told IRJ that it was "still very preliminary" and they had not yet started any research into maglev applications in Hong Kong. However, he understood that KCR was also interested in the idea.

Current railway extension projects in Hong Kong--West Rail (IRJ March p18), Tseung Kwan O, and East Rail's Lok Ma Chau, Ma On Shan, and Tsim Sha Tsui extensions--will all he completed in 2004-05 and will greatly increase the rail networks' catchment.

"The implications for the core of the network are very substantial," Mr Russell J Black, project manager with the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC), told the 150 delegates at the conference organised by Singapore-based Total Focus Conferences.

"As an indication, MTR's weekday ridership is predicted to rise from the current 2.3 million to 3.6 million in 2006. Unacceptable congestion will arise on the Island Line and on the Tsuen Wan Line in Nathan Road in 2006, followed by the Eastern Harbour Crossing and at North Point soon after," he added.

These, then, are some of the issues that the Second Railway Development Study (RDS-2) is urgently addressing. The $HK 35 million ($US 4.5 million) study is being produced by a joint venture formed by two consultants, MVA Asia and Maunsell Consultants Asia under the supervision of the Highways Department's Railway Development Office.

The population of Hong Kong is expected to increase from about 6.5 million today to 8.9 million by 2016. The main thrusts of the study are to relieve bottlenecks in existing railway networks, to provide rail access to strategic growth areas for housing and economic development, to stimulate further development along rail corridors, to meet cross-boundary passenger and freight demands, and to ensure compatibility and integration with the railways in mainland China.

MTR's next, albeit modest, project is a 3km single-track extension with a crossing loop from a new station at Yam O on the Tung Chung Line of the new Airport Railway. It will serve a Disney theme park at Penny's Bay on Lantau Island and will be operated by two four-car shuttles from 2005. Construction should start in 2002. The challenge here, Black told the conference, is to keep costs down because, by MTR standards, the number of people going to the attraction will be very small.

MTR's own proposals concerning RDS-2 include duplicating the Island Line with a 4km, $HK 9 billion extension of the Tung Chung Line from Hong Kong station to Fortress Hill station, and incorporating the eastern end of the Island Line into the Tung Chung Line. At the same time, MTR would "swap" the Tseung Kwan O Line into Tin Hau station and incorporate the western end of the Island Line into the Tseung Kwan O Line.

MTR's proposed solution to the Nathan Road and Eastern Harbour Crossing capacity problems is the 11km East Kowloon Line. This $HK 20 billion project would run from Diamond Hill station on the Kwun Tong Line through the redevelopment of the former Kai Tak international airport area to Hung Hom where it would connect with the Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR).

The line would then continue through the fourth harbour rail crossing to Exhibition and Admiralty, achieving, according to Black, "the best possible distribution on Hong Kong Island, all within the same fare structure". KCR has its own plans to cross the harbour from Hung Hom to Happy Valley and Central on Hong Kong Island.