HONG KONG'S RAILWAY SYSTEM

Hong Kong has two Railway Corporations - the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC) and the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC). They deliver high quality rail service to Hong Kong and have been able to fund service and network expansion largely out of the income from the fares collected. Over the years, with the expansion of the rail network, the daily patronage has grown to more than 3 million.

The MTR System

The planning and development of Hong Kong's MTR system dated back to the 1960's when the first Mass Transit Railway Study for Hong Kong was carried out. The first section of the MTR, the Kwun Tong Line (KTL) (between Kwun Tong and Shek Kip Mei) was completed and opened to public on 1 October 1979. The following two decades saw the completion of the remaining phase of the KTL (1980), the Tsuen Wan Line (1982), the Island Line (1985), the extension of the KTL to Quarry Bay via the Eastern Harbour Crossing (1989) and the Airport Railway (1998). The Airport Railway actually provides two services : the 30.8 km Tung Chung Line and the 34.8 km Airport Express Line. In addition to the passengers carried by the Airport Express Line, the 77 km MTR urban network is now one of the most heavily utilized urban railway system in the world and carries more than 2 million passengers a day.

The KCR System

The KCR is a conventional main line railway that can accommodate a mix of passenger and freight trains. The 34 km system was completely electrified and modernized in the 1980's. It provides the key transport link with the mainland and serves also as the main commuter corridor for the 1.4 million population in the Northeast New Territories for travelling to the urban area. The KCR carries some 700,000 passengers daily and is connected to the MTR system at Kowloon Tong where passengers can interchange between the two systems.

RAIL TRAVEL DEMAND

The main driving force for railway development in Hong Kong springs from both internal development and economic integration with the Mainland.

In 1999, Hong Kong's population stood at about 6.5 million and the various economic activities have generated some 12 million domestic travel trips each day. 25% of these trips is by rail. The population is expected to grow to some 8.9 million by the year 2016. There will be a very large increase in transport demand especially the rail mode.

Besides the domestic demand, the cross-boundary passenger traffic resulting from closer economic and social ties with the Mainland has important bearings on Hong Kong's railway network expansion. At present, Hong Kong has four land-based boundary crossings, viz., the rail passenger crossing at Lo Wu and the three road crossings at Lok Ma Chau, Man Kam To and Sha Tau Kok. Lo Wu has traditionally been the preferred choice for the cross boundary passengers. In the past, the growth rate has been at a steady 6-8%. However, in recent years (since late 1996), there has been a significant growth to 16-18%. Current average daily trips are in excess of 200,000. During weekends and festival periods, high daily flows at Lo Wu are well in excess of 240,000.

RAILWAY DEVELOPMENT

In recognition of the importance of railways in public transport, the Government commissioned a comprehensive study on railway development in 1991. The findings and recommendations of that study formed the basis of Government's Railway Development Strategy of 1994, which provided the blue print for expanding Hong Kong's railway network. The priority projects recommended therein are already in different stages of implementation. The existing and committed railway network are shown in Fig. 1.

The Second Railway Development Study and the next phase of railway expansion

Whilst completing the new rail projects will provide additional capacities, Hong Kong will be facing new challenges in the 21^st Century. The planning for railway system expansion will increasingly be more complex as the network builds up. The heavy capital investments as well as the strong controls demanded by society will require a longer lead time for project approval and delivery. In order to sustain Hong Kong's development, we need to plan ahead - to determine the next phase of railway development and to complete all the necessary planning and preparation so as to ensure the timely provision of adequate railway infrastructure.

In March 1998, the Government commissioned the Second Railway Development Study. The overall objective of the Study is to recommend a railway network expansion that will be able to facilitate timely accessibility to new growth areas; to remove bottlenecks in the existing and planned railway system; to meet cross boundary traffic demands and to increase the rail share in the overall transport.

The Study has identified a number of potential new lines which individually or in combination, would greatly relieve bottlenecks in the railway network and which could support development of new growth areas in the Hong Kong. The possible rail schemes are shown in Fig. 2. These schemes have been put together in different configurations to test their effectiveness to enhance the rail capacity and to bring about a more even distribution of the flows on the network in order to relieve identified bottlenecks in the system. The overall performance of the network options are being assessed in terms of the transport, engineering, environmental, economic and financial aspects. The findings would work towards identifying the common components of a "Core Network". Depending on future development and other external factors, the priority, sequence and timing for implementing the various components of the network will be decided. That will provide the blue print for the next phase of railway development for the SAR.

Railway Development Office
Highways Department