ENG-2006 — Page 300

248 Transport

Railway Projects

The 7.4-kilometre Spur Line will provide a second rail link to the Mainland to relieve congestion at Lo Wu, which handled more than 92 million passengers in 2006. The Spur Line is under construction and will commence operation in mid-2007.

The 3.8-kilometre Kowloon Southern Link under construction will connect the East Rail and the West Rail at the southern tip of the Kowloon Peninsula. On completion in 2009, passengers will be able to interchange from the East Rail to the West Rail and vice versa at Hung Hom.

The Tseung Kwan O South Station, an extension of the Tseung Kwan O Line, is expected to be completed in 2009.

Railway Projects at the Planning Stage

The Northern Link will connect the West Rail at Kam Sheung Road to the boundary crossing point at Lok Ma Chau, and together with the Spur Line, will form a strategic corridor connecting the West Rail and the East Rail. The Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link will provide express service to link up the urban area with the boundary. The line is expected to reduce the rail travel time between Guangzhou and Hong Kong from the present 100 minutes to about 60 minutes. It will also link Hong Kong with Beijing and other major Mainland cities via the Beijing-Guangzhou Passenger Line and the Hangzhou-Fuzhou- Shenzhen Passenger Line. It will also connect Hong Kong to cities in the Pearl River Delta and Pan-Pearl River Delta via the Rapid Transit System now under development on the Mainland.

Construction of the Shibi-Longhua section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link started in December 2005 and arrangements will be made to synchronise the construction of the remaining section from Longhua to the boundary with the Hong Kong section. The KCRC is conducting engineering and business studies as well as preliminary site investigations for the Hong Kong section.

The West Island Line will be an extension of the existing MTR Island Line from Sheung Wan to Kennedy Town with two intermediate stations at Sai Ying Pun and University. The latest proposal for the South Island Line consists of two medium- capacity rail lines, one from University to Wong Chuk Hang with intermediate stations at Cyberport, Wah Fu and Aberdeen, and the other from Admiralty to South Horizons with intermediate stations at Ocean Park, Wong Chuk Hang and Lei Tung.

The Sha Tin to Central Link will form a new strategic rail corridor from Sha Tin to the Central Business District on Hong Kong Island. The latest proposal for the project comprises two sections of railway lines the East West Line connecting Tai Wai with Hung Hom joining the Kowloon Southern Link and West Rail; and the North South Line extending the existing East Rail across the harbour through the Fourth Rail Harbour Crossing.

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