XN000022-1995-11-17 — Page 7

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Western Corridor Railway full proposal from KCRC

The Government today (Friday) received from the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) its formal proposal for the construction and operation of the Western Corridor Railway (WCR) project.

The proposal is KCRC's response to an invitation by the Government in January this year, following the announcement of the Railway Development Strategy in December last year. The Strategy accorded high priority to the WCR for completion by 2001.

"The Government welcomes KCRC's Proposal on the Western Corridor Railway. The proposal will form the basis for detailed discussions between the corporation and the Government, and for the corporation to proceed with more in- depth planning and design work," said the Secretary for Transport, Mr Haider Barma.

"The WCR will be the largest single rail project ever undertaken in Hong Kong. The total rail length of the WCR is about one and half times that of the Airport Railway. Given the enormous engineering, land acquisitioning, environmental and financial dimensions to the project, it will take some time for the Government to consider the proposal carefully and comprehensively. I expect that, over the coming months, there will be numerous and intense discussions among all concerned parties, with a view to developing KCRC's proposed scheme into concrete plans," he said.

KCRC's proposal is made on the basis of the findings of a Detailed Feasibility Study on the WCR project conducted by KCRC. Not only does it outline the corporation's intended scheme for the WCR, but it also serves as KCRC's letter of intent to take on the project implementation. The proposed scheme contains the following main features:

* A domestic passenger service linking the Northwest New Territories and the urban area. The proposed rail line will run from Tuen Mun Town Centre to West Kowloon. In West Kowloon, the rail line will terminate initially at Yen Chow Street, and will be extended later to the West Kowloon Passenger Terminal at Jordan Road. Intermediate stations are proposed at Tuen Mun North, Tin Shui Wai, Long Ping, Yuen Long, Kam Tin, Tsuen Wan West, and Mei Foo. An interchange with the MTR Tsuen Wan Line is proposed at Mei Foo. There will also be two interchanges with the Airport Railway Lantau Line. The first interchange will be at Yen Chow Street and the second interchange which will be provided at a later stage will be at the West Kowloon Passenger Terminal;

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