page_title: Kwun Tong line
section_title: Eastern extension
hierarchical_section_title: Kwun Tong line / History / Eastern extension
caption_attribution_description: The aligment reformation of MTR, Hong Kong metro system.
context_page_description: The Kwun Tong line is a heavy-rail rapid transit line of the MTR network in Hong Kong, coloured green on the MTR map. Starting at Whampoa in Hung Hom and ending at Tiu Keng Leng in Tseung Kwan O, Sai Kung, the route has 17 stations and takes 35 minutes to complete. The Kwun Tong line is one of the busiest railway lines on the network, connecting the central and the eastern portions of Kowloon via Wong Tai Sin. The line is mostly underground, but includes a lengthy elevated section, and runs generally in an east-west direction. During the morning rush hour, the Kwun Tong line utilises 34 trains running at 2.1-minute-intervals.
  Opening in 1979 as the first urban railway line in Hong Kong and the first operated by the Mass Transit Railway Corporation, the Kwun Tong line operates over much of the original section of the "Modified Initial System", from Shek Kip Mei to Kwun Tong station, which it is named after. The line has seen the most changes in alignment of all the MTR lines, the most recent in 2016.
context_section_description: When the Hong Kong government decided to build a second harbour crossing in 1984, it awarded a franchise for the construction of a mixed rail and road tunnel under the harbour. Consequentially, the Kwun Tong line was extended through the new tunnel on 6 August 1989 to a new terminus at Quarry Bay, a transfer station with the newly built Island line. An intermediate station, Lam Tin, was opened on 1 October of the same year.
  The first derailment in MTR history (excluding ex-KCR lines) took place at Kowloon Bay station in 1994. The seventh carriage of a train pulling into the station at about 60 km/h jumped the tracks on 28 January 1994, on a section of track adjacent to the MTR headquarters building. Nobody was injured, though train services were disrupted. The incident was blamed on a bolt in the train's suspension system which had worked itself loose, causing the weight load to be concentrated on the rear wheels of the carriage.
  As part of a project to reduce congestion at Quarry Bay, the Kwun Tong line was briefly extended to North Point on 27 September 2001. This station did not last as the terminus for long, as the newly built Tseung Kwan O line would take over the cross-harbour portion of the route in 2002. The Kwun Tong line was instead diverted in two phases: to Yau Tong station on 4 August 2002 and on 18 August 2002 to Tiu Keng Leng, its present eastern terminus, coinciding with the opening of the Tseung Kwan O line.
  Although not in regular service, the original tunnel linking the Kwun Tong line to the Eastern Harbour Crossing continues to be maintained and can be utilised in the event of a disruption on the Tseung Kwan O line. Such an incident occurred on 16 December 2013, when a train on the Tseung Kwan O line broke down, halting train services on the entire line for several hours. To prevent cross-harbour train service from being disrupted, all Kwun Tong line trains temporarily used the old tracks from Lam Tin to Quarry Bay and terminated at North Point, as they did before the opening of the Tseung Kwan O line. This was the first time since 2002 that the Lam Tin to Quarry Bay tracks were utilised for regular service.
caption: Realignment of Kwun Tong line upon the inauguration of Tseung Kwan O line.
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