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COMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSPORT
The daily passenger service of 17 trains each way was improved in 1974 by the acquisition of 40 new coaches. This enables each train to comprise 14 coaches. In addition, it is proposed to supplement the service by a further 10 trains operating daily between Kowloon and University stations. These will be the first one-class trains operated by the railway.
On November 4, passenger fares were increased for the first time since 1947. The same day saw the elimination of second and third class fares and their substitution by an 'ordinary' class. A further innovation was the introduction of a seat reservation system. Another notable success for the railway was the operation of complete trains of oil from China, with a potential of some 2,000 tons a day.
Freight traffic fell in the early part of 1974 but, with the inception of oil trains, the position changed with the number of daily trains increased on occasions from five to eight. On one day a record number of 219 wagons were dealt with.
The railway which is used increasingly by passengers to and from China has three daily connections each way at the border and is a significant feature in the govern- ment's policy to re-deploy the population into the New Territories.
With the increased volume of traffic the single line railway is reaching the limit of its capacity and a programme to double track and re-signal the line from Kowloon to Sha Tin is due for completion in 1976. A new freight and passenger terminal at Hung Hom is due to open in 1975.
- Plans have been submitted to the government for double tracking the remainder of the railway, with modernisation and expansion of terminals and electrification at a cost of around $400 million. The railway is considered an integral part of a long- term plan for the public transportation needs of Hong Kong.
Mass Transit Railway
In February a 'letter of intent' was signed between a Japanese consortium and the Hong Kong Government by which both parties agreed to negotiate a formal contract for building, equipping and financing the first four stages of the mass transit railway. In March the government created, by statute, the Mass Transit Railway Provisional Authority with powers to plan and establish the project. Negotiations for the formal contract continued and the authority built up its staffing and other сара- bilities to enable the Mass Transit Railway Corporation to be established at the appro- priate time.
The Provisional Authority held six series of talks with the Japanese consortium during 1974 both in Hong Kong and in Tokyo. These talks were partly to determine whether the consortium's engineering design solutions met the Provisional Authority's specifications and other requirements for the project and partly to reach a conclusion on the provisions of the formal contract. At the end of the year the talks were continu- ing.
The Provisional Authority also carried out a series of measures aimed at the set- ting up of a Mass Transit Railway Corporation in such a way that, as soon as the