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5
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down Nathan Road and under the Harbour to name only two of the major
problems of route location. The Consultants were therefore arked to test various alternative systems. They in fact tested five alter-
natives which are described and illustrated in detail in the latter
part of Chapter 4 or Volume I. Alternative 5 is a development of alternative 3 which was the most promising of the 4 basic variants selected. The diagram at 4.11 gives the 1986 passenger volumes on
the 5th alternative which is the recommended system.
THE PREFERRED SYSTEM
7
17.
The system selected (the 5th alternative) is described as the
Preferred System. It has been cutlined in paragraph 5 above and con-
sists of the two branch lines from Yau Tong Bay and Tsuen Wan West to Mong Kok, the Kong Kow Line from Mong Kok under Nathan Road to Western Market, an Island Line and the East Kowloon Line from Diamond Hill via
Tsim Sha Tsui to Western Market. While the travel volumes predicted
come clost to maximum capacity on the Kong Kow Line, and while certain
station volumes will be as high as anywhere in the world, the location
of the preferred system will achievo a very wide cover of the Urban
Area including Tsuen Wan. The system also precludes the need for a
second line down Nathan Road and thereby keeps the Initial System as
simple and cheap as possible.
TRAINS AND STATIONS
18.
The recommended designs for rolling-stock and stations reflec": the very high use of the system. The designs included in the Final
Report are typical but are of course capable of modification.
19.
Tre. The system is a mass transit system designed to car
very large numbers of people. It is not a luxury rapid-transit syster
designed to seduce the wealthy from their cars. Each train will consis' of eight very wide (10.6 ft.) and very long (78 ft.) cars. The overali.
length of a train will be about 600 ft. All cars will be interconnecter
via wide vestibules which will help to avoid the undue bunching of passengers at peak-hours. Seats will be provided for only 448 passengers (56 per car) whereas the total capacity of a train will be 3,136 passengers. The design envisages steel-wheeled cars running on steel rails. Ventilation will be provided by high-capacity fans in the
roof-space. of cars allowing space for installing air-conditioning units
should this prove necesary in future,
TRAIN FREQUENCY
20.
In order to achieve a design-capacity of 45,000 passengers an hour for each line the system has been designed with trains operating on a 2-minute headway during peak hours. This is generally accepted as
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