Tung Chung line

Tung Chung line 東涌綫
Tung Chung line train approach Sunny Bay station
Overview
Type	Rapid transit
System	MTR
Locale	Districts: Central and Western, Yau Tsim Mong, Sham Shui Po, Kwai Tsing, Tsuen Wan, Islands
Termini	Hong Kong Tung Chung
Stations	8
Ridership	236,900 daily average (weekdays, September 2014)[1]
Operation
Opened	21 June 1998 (1998-06-21)
Depot(s)	Siu Ho Wan
Rolling stock	Adtranz–CAF EMU Rotem EMU
Technical
Line length	31.1 km (19.3 mi)
Track gauge	1,432 mm (4 ft 8 3⁄8 in)
Electrification	1.5 kV DC
Operating speed	140 km/h (87 mph)
Route map Tseung Kwan O line (NIL) to Po Lam or LOHAS Park Tamar      Tsuen Wan line to Tsuen Wan Island line to Chai Wan Central           Hong Kong      Island line to Kennedy Town Victoria Harbour Kowloon      ( W Kowloon) Olympic West Rail line to Hung Hom Nam Cheong      West Rail line to Tuen Mun Tsuen Wan line to Central Lai King      Tsuen Wan line to Tsuen Wan Tsing Lai Bridge Tsing Yi      Tsing Ma Bridge Kap Shui Mun Bridge Disneyland Resort line to Disneyland Resort Sunny Bay      Siu Ho Wan Depot Airport Express to AsiaWorld–Expo Tung Chung (Cable Car)

The Tung Chung line is one of the eleven lines of the MTR system in Hong Kong, linking Tung Chung with Hong Kong Island. A part of the Tung Chung line was built along with the Kap Shui Mun Bridge and the Tsing Ma Bridge. The line currently travels through eight stations in 27 minutes along its route. The line is indicated by the colour orange.

History

In October 1989, the Hong Kong government decided to replace the overcrowded Kai Tak International Airport, located in Kowloon, with a new airport to be constructed at Chek Lap Kok. The government also invited the MTR, then called the MTRC, to build a train line to the airport called the Lantau Airport Railway. The project did not begin until the Chinese government and the British government settled financial and land disagreements in November 1994.

The Lantau Airport Railway became two MTR lines, the Tung Chung line and the Airport Express, both lines being served by A-Stock trains with dedicated interior fittings and liveries. On 21 June 1998, the Tung Chung line was officially opened by Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, and service commenced the next day.

On 16 December 2003, an open house for charity took place at the recently completed Nam Cheong station, an interchange station between the Tung Chung line and the West Rail line (then the KCR West Rail). The station closed on 19 December 2003 in preparation for the opening of West Rail, and it was officially opened to the public on 20 December 2003. At the same time, the number of cars per train increased from seven to eight.

On 1 June 2005, Sunny Bay station, an interchange station for the Disneyland Resort line, opened two months prior to the opening of the Disneyland Resort line on 1 August that year.

Between 2006 and 2007, four new Korean-built K-Stock trains were added to the Tung Chung line to improve service frequency. The first train was received on 9 February 2006 and entered service on 12 June 2006. However, since the new trains were found to be a few millimetres wider than the existing trains, some modifications were made to station platforms.

Route map

MTR Tung Chung line and Airport Express route map

Route description

The Tung Chung line, unlike most urban MTR lines, is mostly above ground, and unlike other MTR lines, which are approximately 15 km on average length, this line has a total length of just over 30 km. At the same time, most of the line runs along the Airport Express. The Tung Chung line runs from the east to west. The line is underground from Hong Kong station and crosses the harbour to Kowloon station. The line then emerges to the surface outside Olympian City 2, to reach Olympic station at the surface.

After Olympic station, the line runs at ground level beneath the West Kowloon Expressway, stopping at Nam Cheong station. Then, the line rises above the ground onto a viaduct, which is also built under the West Kowloon Expressway. The viaduct leads into a tunnel in the hills near Lai King. It emerges shortly at Lai King station to provide cross platform interchange with the Tsuen Wan line.

The line remains on viaduct past Lai King station, and crosses Rambler Channel on the Tsing Lai Bridge to Tsing Yi Island, where it enters Tsing Yi station. Having passed Tsing Yi station, the line enters another tunnel through the hills of Tsing Yi. It travels on the Tsing Ma Bridge and the Kap Shui Mun Bridge, crossing Ma Wan island but no stops within the island.

Eventually, the line leaves the tunnel and travels on the surface along the North Lantau Expressway. It stops at Sunny Bay station on the way. The line then shares tracks with the Airport Express before splitting from it just before it reaches Tung Chung New Town. Having re-entered the tunnel, the line terminates at Tung Chung station, located underground.

With a displacement of over 10 km between Sunny Bay and Tung Chung, and no intermediate stations within this section of the track (other than the Siu Ho Wan depot), it takes about 6 minutes to travel between these stations. There are currently no intermediate stations within this section of the track because there are no suitable sites or facilities nearby.

Some westbound trains terminate at Tsing Yi station from Hong Kong, and do not continue to Tung Chung and Sunny Bay, because of the tight capacity of the Tsing Ma Bridge shared with trains of the Airport Express, which limits 1 train on each track on the bridge.^[2]

• 
  Tung Chung line Train at Sunny Bay station
• 
  Tung Chung line A-Stock Train
• 
  Tung Chung line K-Stock Train
• 
  Tung Chung line K-Stock Train
• 
  Exterior of Tung Chung station
• 
  Upper platform level of Lai King station

• 
  Nam Cheong station; interchange with West Rail line
• 
  Olympic station concourse
• 
  Kowloon station, Tung Chung line platform
• 
  Hong Kong station, Tung Chung line platform

Stations

The following is a list of the stations on the Tung Chung line.

Problems

When British Hong Kong was planning to build the Airport Railway (Tung Chung Line and Airport Express) in the 1990s, which was a few years before the Hong Kong Handover. The Chinese government had a concern about the savings will be used up by British Hong Kong Government. Hong Kong Government was eventually forced to reduce the expenditures on the Airport Railway of Hong Kong Airport Core Programme. As a result, there are a couple of problems derived by this decision made.^[3]

• The design of quadruple tracks on the whole railway from Hong Kong Island to Tung Chung New Town was changed to double-track design at cross-harbour section and between Tsing Yi and Tung Chung New Town. When there is a signal failure, both Tung Chung Line and Airport Express will be delayed or suspended.

• The section on Lantau Link (Tsing Ma Bridge, Ma Wan Viaduct, Kap Shui Mun Bridge) only allows one train to pass through each direction at the same time, the headway between two trains is restricted to 2.15 seconds. As a result, some Tung Chung Line trains terminate at Tsing Yi during peak hours.

• The signal system does not identify the priority right of different lines to use the section. When Tung Chung Line is calling at Sunny Bay Station, Airport Express trains usually need to stop and wait for the Tung Chung Line train to depart the station.

• Power supply system restricts the number of trains between Kowloon and Lai King (one train running between Kowloon and Lai King on the Airport Express and two trains between Lai King and Olympic on the Tung Chung Line. The shortest headway on the Tung Chung Line is 3.5 minutes.

Future development

The Tung Chung line was designed to facilitate an extension from Hong Kong station eastward. According to the Rail Projects Under Planning 2000 released by Hong Kong Highways Department, three new stations, Tamar, Exhibition Centre and Causeway Bay North, will form part of the extension. The line will then connect North Point station and merge into the Tseung Kwan O line. However 14 years later on the Railway Development Strategy 2014 Tamar station would become the terminus for both the Tseung Kwan O line and Tung Chung line while Exhibition and Causeway Bay North stations would be served by the Tseung Kwan O line.

Residents of Yat Tung Estate have appealed to the government to extend the Tung Chung line to Tung Chung West station near Yat Tung to ease their transportation problems. Yat Tung currently has 40,000 residents. They claimed that when they moved in 11 years ago, the Housing Bureau's documents indicated a MTR station at the estate. The residents currently have to take a 10-minute bus journey to Tung Chung station.^[4]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tung Chung line.

• List of areas of Hong Kong
• Transport in Hong Kong

References