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Tuesday, April 10, 1973
TUNNELLING TESTS FOR MASS TRANSIT RAILWAY
Work on four test tunnels for the Mass Transit Railway system
is scheduled to start in May of this year.
Before the construction of the railway itself begins, trial
tunnels are to be excavated at four separate locations to obtain information
concerning the practical difficulties of tunnelling in Hong Kong.
The trial tunnelling works will be carried out at four sites --
in the area of the former Naval Dockyard between Harcourt Road and Queensway
on the Island; to the south of Salisbury Road, opposite the Peninsula
Hotel in Tsimshatsui; beside Wang Tau Hom East Road, in the open area
opposite Lok Fu Resettlement Estate; and beside the Castle Peak Road
in Lai Chi Kok.
All the four aites involved are on Crown land.
The Government Mass Transit Engineer, Mr. S.A. Barden, said today
that exact information on ground conditions is required to provide the
essential data for the design of the permanent tunnels and the best methods
of constructing them.
The tunnels forming part of the Mass Transit Railway would have
to be bored through soils varying from solid rock to soft clay.
"We may encounter special problems at these four sites and our
intention is to find out as much as we can about them and use this information
in the design of the system and its construction", he said.
The work at these sites will involve no disruption of traffic.
Pavements for pedestrians will be available during the work and every
effort will be made to keep the noise level at all sites to the minimum.
The work is expected to continue until the end of the year.
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