Tseung Kwan O Line

## **Tseung Kwan O Line** **將軍澳綫**

Between North Point and LOHAS Park: 20 Min

The **Tseung Kwan O Line** is a currently-operating heavy railway line in the MTR system. It stretches from North Point in Eastern District, Hong Kong Island to the Tseung Kwan O New Town in Sai Kung District, New Territories. The line splits into 2 at Tseung Kwan O, one to Po Lam and one to LOHAS Park and Tseung Kwan O Depot. The travel time between North Point and Po Lam is 15mins and that between North Point and LOHAS Park is 20mins.

The 12-km long Tseung Kwan O Line was built in 2 phases, the 1st phase between Yau Tong and North Point commenced on August 4, 2002, whereas the remainder of the main line from Yau Tong and Po Lam was commenced on August 18. The branch line towards LOHAS Park was commenced on July 26, 2009. Currently there are 8 stations for this line with 5 of them are interchanges; except for Yau Tong Station, all other stations are underground stations.

On the route map, **Tseung Kwan O Line** is represented by the colour purple and is the 3rd shortest line in the MTR network after South Island Line and Disneyland Resort Line; the line is named after the Tseung Kwan O New Town. This line is also the 2nd shortest heavy railway line in the world after the Yellow Line (Ligne Jaune) of the Montreal Subway in Canada.

## History

At the beginning of the new town planning in Tseung Kwan O, the authorities have proposed to build a subway branch line directly to the area, but it is not yet decided to build it in the light rail or heavy rail mode.

In the "Railway Development Research" published in 1993, it was proposed to build a railway to serve the new town of Tseung Kwan O; in the " Railway Development Strategy " published in 1994 , it was proposed to implement three " Priority railway projects " ( Priority railway projects ), including the  **Ma On Shan Rail** ( together with the Template:Tsim Sha Tsui Extension), the Western Corridor Railway and the Tseung Kwan O Spur Line; at that time the proposed terminus of the Tseung Kwan O Spur Line was at Lam Tin Station, and the terminus of the Kwun Tong Line was extended from Quarry Bay Station to North Point Station.

The MTR Corporation started the feasibility study of the Tseung Kwan O Spur Line in May 1995 and completed it in 1996. During the research period, the MTR Corporation identified a number of options, and finally chose Po Lam as the starting point, going through Hang Hau, Tseung Kwan O Town Centre, Tiu Keng Leng, Yau Tong, and then the Eastern Harbour Tunnel and Quarry Bay to North Point. The interchange stations of this branch line and the Kwun Tong Line are located in Yau Tong and Tiu Keng Leng. Passengers can change trains by crossing the opposite platform. In 1995 prices, the estimated fare from Po Lam to Central is $10.9.

In order to comply with the urban planning of Tseung Kwan O and Yau Tong and to minimize the impact on the environment, the trains along the line will travel through the underground tunnels, and the above-ground platforms will not appear until Po Lam Station . As the construction of a new car factory in Tseung Kwan O involves a huge reclamation project, the MTR Corporation plans to requisition 30 waterfront lots in Yau Tong Bay to reclaim the sea to build a train parking depot to carry out small-scale maintenance works and provide parking spaces for the feeder trains. For the development of office buildings, shopping malls and 600 residential units.

### Construction starts

Based on the research results, the MTR Corporation submitted a proposal for the Tseung Kwan O Spur Line project to the Hong Kong government in April 1996, and the former Executive Council announced in December that it approved the MTR to carry out railway design work [7] , including the " Quarry Bay Passenger Congestion Relief Project " ( Quarry Bay Congestion Relief Works ) [8] to relieve congestion at Quarry Bay Station , and to carry out detailed planning and design work for the Tseung Kwan O Spur Line to draw up a project agreement for approval by the Government in 1998. If the necessary land resumption and demolition work are successfully completed, the Quarry Bay congestion relief works and the construction of the Tseung Kwan O Spur Line can be completed by the end of 2000 and mid-2002 respectively.

The Government gazetted the proposal for the Tseung Kwan O Spur Line (Phase 1) on 26 September 1997. The railway has a total length of 9.5 kilometers and has five new stations - Yau Tong, Tiu Keng Leng, Tseung Kwan O, Hang Hau and Po Lam. The railway is mainly built underground, only a small section near Po Lam Station is built on the covered ground. The works include the construction of the Tseung Kwan O Line, connecting the existing MTR East , passing through Yau Tong to Tseung Kwan O New Town; and modifying the existing Kwun Tong Line , extending from Lam Tin Station to Yau Tong and Tiu Keng Leng Station. According to the proposal of the MTR Corporation, the Tseung Kwan O Spur Line will not use the section of rail from Lam Tin to Quarry Bay of the original Kwun Tong Line . This part of the rail will be reserved for routine maintenance work and may be used to cope with emergencies from Lam Tin to Quarry Bay.

On October 20, 1998, the Chief Executive in Council formally approved the construction of the Tseung Kwan O Spur Line by the MTR Corporation , and the two parties formally signed an agreement on the project plan in November. The construction of the Tseung Kwan O branch line, which cost 30.5 billion yuan , started on April 24, 1999 and is expected to be completed in December 2002. As for the project cost and financing arrangements, the estimated costs of the Quarry Bay Congestion Relief Project and the Tseung Kwan O Spur Line are $4.9 billion and $25 billion respectively. The MTRCL will provide the funds for these two projects on its own without the need for financial support from the government.

Due to the issue of land resumption in Yau Tong District , the original plan to set up a depot in the area has been cancelled. The MTR Corporation has decided to build a depot in Area 86 of Tseung Kwan O for maintenance and parking of Tseung Kwan O feeder trains. Construction of the depot started in February 1999 and is scheduled to be completed in December 2002; when the population of the area reaches an appropriate level of growth, a new station will be added to the depot location.

### Commencement of First Phase

The MTR Corporation announced on July 4, 2002 that the Tseung Kwan O Line will be opened to service on August 18, and the maximum cross-harbour fare is $11.8, which is 20% lower than the cross-harbour bus fare. Yau Tong Station and Tiu Keng Leng Station have become interchange stations. In order to allow passengers to adapt to the new interchange arrangements for the Kwun Tong Line and Tseung Kwan O Line, Yau Tong Station was the first to put into service on 4 August.

On the opening day of Yau Tong Station, the section of the Tseung Kwan O Line between Yau Tong Station and North Point Station was put into service earlier, replacing the section of the Eastern Cross-Harbour Tunnel[14] which had been used for more than 10 years on the Kwun Tong Line to cross the sea to Hong Kong Island. At the same time, Kwun Tong The terminus of the line has been changed from North Point Station to Yau Tong Station , allowing passengers to familiarize themselves with the new transfer arrangement between Kwun Tong and Hong Kong Island in advance. During the period, the trains of the Tseung Kwan O Line continued to drive empty -loaded to the Black Hill Siding after dropping off passengers at Yau Tong Station, and then turn back and enter Yau Tong Station to pick up passengers. Kwun Tong Line trains will continue to the Tiu Keng Leng siding for turn-backs and return to Yau Tong to pick up passengers.

The Tseung Kwan O Line from Yau Tong Station to Po Lam Station was opened to traffic on August 18, and the Kwun Tong Line was officially changed to Tiu Keng Leng as the final stop. Since then, Quarry Bay Station and North Point Station have become interchange stations for the Tseung Kwan O Line and the Hong Kong Island Line . Passengers taking the Kwun Tong Line to Hong Kong Island need to transfer to the Tseung Kwan O Line train at Yau Tong Station, and then transfer to the Island Line at Quarry Bay Station or North Point Station. As for the original section of the Kwun Tong Line Eastern Cross Harbour Tunnel to Lam Tin Station , it has been changed to a spare, named " Lam Tin Station Backup Tunnel ", for construction vehicles or traffic transfer. When the service of the cross-harbour section of the Tseung Kwan O Line is suspended, depending on the affected road section, Lam Tin Station and Quarry Bay Station will be connected through a backup tunnel to maintain cross-harbour train service.

The Tseung Kwan O Line was opened to traffic ahead of schedule, and the cost was more than HK$14.5 billion lower than the original budget, marking another milestone for the MTR Corporation. Despite the fact that the new Korean-made train control system had some adjustment problems in the early days of commissioning, the frequency of trains was sparse, and many passengers were not accustomed to the tedious transfer process. As a result, many residents of East Kowloon took the East Tunnel Cross-Harbour Tunnel bus to travel to and from Hong Kong Island. On the other hand, since the merger of the two railways, the MTR has increased the fare almost every year , while the fare of the EHC Cross-Harbour Tunnel has increased only 1 to 3 times, which has also attracted some Lam Tin passengers to use the EHC Cross-Harbour Tunnel bus to travel to and from Hong Kong Island.

In addition, some passengers on the Kwun Tong Line from Shek Kip Mei Station to Choi Hung Station have changed to use Mong Kok Station to transfer to Tsuen Wan Line and Admiralty Station to transfer to Hong Kong Island Line to travel to and from Hong Kong Island. With the large housing estates of Tiu Keng Leng Station and Tseung Kwan O Station being occupied, and the completion of the redevelopment of public housing estates around Yau Tong Station , the current Tseung Kwan O Line service is very popular among passengers in the new town.

### 2nd phase branch line

The former Executive Council approved in principle the proposal to build the Tseung Kwan O Spur Line in December 1996, and then officially approved the MTR Corporation to start the project on October 20, 1998. On February 16, 1999 , the Chief Executive in Council approved the Draft Tseung Kwan O Outline Zoning Plan, so that the MTR Corporation could carry out the related property development in Tseung Kwan O Area 86 at the same time as the MTR Corporation started the Tseung Kwan O branch depot and the station " Tseung Kwan O South Station " project. [15] . In April of the same year, the Town Planning Commission approved the MTR Corporation’s master plan for the comprehensive development plan for Area 86. About 50 residential buildings with auxiliary community facilities will be built in this area, with about 21,500 units, which can accommodate about 58,000 people. The subway company plans to develop the area in stages within 12 years [16] . After several rounds of negotiation, the MTR Corporation signed a lease agreement with the government in May 2002 for the property development project on top of the MTR Depot in Tseung Kwan O Area 86, and the former chairman Edwin So attended the signing ceremony in person.

The entire project was initially named "Dream City". After several revisions to the project master plan, the design and construction of Tseung Kwan O South Station was officially implemented. , involving tunnel excavation at a depth of about 12-35 meters underground. These works will not affect the geological structure of the site and its future development. However, as the lot is located within the "Mass Transit Railway Reserve", its development should not affect the railway operation.

In June 2006, the MTR Corporation started the second phase of the civil engineering of the Tseung Kwan O Spur Line . On September 26 of the following year , it was announced that the residential development project in Tseung Kwan O Area 86 was officially named "LOHAS Park". The MTR officially opened the LOHAS Park Station on July 26. The 3.5-kilometre track that was previously used solely for empty trains to and from the Tseung Kwan O Depot and Tseung Kwan O Station has also begun passenger services to and from LOHAS Park Station.

### Tseung Kwan O Line 3+1

After the opening of the LOHAS Park Station, the Tseung Kwan O Line will run between North Point Station and Po Lam Station , and North Point Station and LOHAS Park Station in a "3+1" format during peak hours. For every three trains going to Po Lam, there will be one train going to LOHAS Park. As for non- peak hours , there are shuttle trains running between Tiu Keng Leng Station and LOHAS Park Station every 10 minutes. Passengers travelling from Lam Station and other stations along the route to LOHAS Park Station have to transfer to the shuttle train at Tiu Keng Leng Station or Tseung Kwan O Station to go to LOHAS Park Station, while the train service from North Point to Po Lam will not be affected.

In order to tie in with the launch of the second phase of the feeder line, the frequency of trains between Tseung Kwan O Station and North Point Station will be increased during peak hours, from every 2 minutes 40 seconds to every 2 minutes 30 seconds, i.e. from 22 to 24 every hour train.

### Tseung Kwan O Line 2+1

The MTR Tseung Kwan O Line will strengthen train services from 8 December 2014. The train running mode between North Point and LOHAS Park during peak hours will be changed from the original "3+1" to "2+1", that is, two trains to and from Po Lam Station, a train to and from LOHAS Park Station; at the same time, the train frequency between LOHAS Park Station and North Point Station has also been increased from every 10 minutes to every 7 minutes, an increase of 237 trains per week. Among them, a total of 201 trains will be added during the morning rush hours from Monday to Saturday and the evening rush hours from Monday to Friday, and 36 trains will be added during the rest of the non-peak hours to ease the flow of people across the sea between Yau Tong Station and Quarry Bay Station. It is estimated that Tseung Kwan O The overall passenger capacity of the line during peak hours can increase by 11.5%.

Due to the signalling system and the limitation of the single platform at Po Lam Station , it is difficult to increase the frequency of trains on the Tseung Kwan O Line starting or ending at Po Lam Station, and the schedule of 18 trains per hour will be maintained.

## Alignment

The Tseung Kwan O Line is about 12 kilometers in length. It starts from North Point Station in the Eastern District of Hong Kong Island , passes through Kwun Tong District and enters the new town of Tseung Kwan O in Sai Kung District in the New Territories .

The platform of the Tseung Kwan O Line at North Point Station is designed in two layers, so that passengers can cross the platform to transfer to the Hong Kong Island Line . Therefore, there is an offside tunnel in the west of the station . For the train to turn around . After leaving North Point Station, the track of Tseung Kwan O Line extends southeastwards through Kai Yuen Street and Braemar Terrace underground to Quarry Bay Station located in Braemar Hill , intersecting with Island Line, and then crosses through the Victoria Harbour using the railway part of the Eastern Cross-Harbour Tunnel to Yau Tong Station.

Yau Tong Station is the only station on the Tseung Kwan O Line in Kowloon. It is also an interchange station between the Tseung Kwan O Line and the Kwun Tong Line. Passengers travelling between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon East can interchange at this station. To the east of Yau Tong Station, the train will enter the Black Hill Tunnel and pass through the bottom of Siu Keng Huan Mountain, where the Tseung Kwan O Chinese Permanent Cemetery is located. The Black Hill Tunnel is a four-lane design, which is equally divided between the Kwun Tong Line and the **Tseung Kwan O Linee** and the Black Hill Siding is attached for the Tseung Kwan O Line to make a U-turn.

At the eastern end of the Black Hill Tunnel is Tiu Keng Leng Station, which is also a cross-platform interchange between the Tseung Kwan O Line and the Kwun Tong Line, serving passengers travelling between Tseung Kwan O New Town and Kowloon East. The Tseung Kwan O Line enters the Tseung Kwan O new town area at Tiu Keng Ling. It first extends underground along Chui Ling Road and Po Yap Road to the north of Tseung Kwan O Station , and then divides into two underground at the Tseung Kwan O Traction and Distribution Station to the east of Tseung Kwan O Plaza . The main line will turn to the north, pass through Hang Hau Station and enter the railway reserved green belt between King Lam Estate and Tseung Kwan O Swimming Pool. Under the cover of the green belt, it will climb up to Po Lam Station with the platform on the ground. The branch line will turn southeast and enter Pak Shing Kok Tunnel. The 6.4-kilometer-long Pak Shing Point Tunnel adopts a double-lane design. It goes through the underground of the Fire and Ambulance Services Academy to the LOHAS Park Station . The MTR Tseung Kwan O Depot, which maintains the trains on the Tseung Kwan O Line, is located next to the LOHAS Park Station.

## Route Features

### Station Calligraphy

The Tseung Kwan O Line inherits the calligraphy design of the Island Line. Au Kit Tong, a retired architect of the MTR Corporation, was invited to paint the six new stations and bake them on the walls of each station platform.

### Sealed Sections

The Tseung Kwan O Line is the first MTR line without any section built on the bridge deck, most of which are underground tunnel sections, with only a small open-air section between LOHAS Park Station and Pak Shing Kok Tunnel. Before its commencement, the entire **Tseung Kwan O Line** goes through sealed tunnels.

Although the Tseung Kwan O Depot, Po Lam Station and LOHAS Park Station are built on the ground, the two platforms of Yau Tong Station are ground and overhead designs respectively. To reduce noise, these sections are completely covered with concrete buildings.

### Po Lam Station Design Constraints

There is only one platform at Po Lam Station. Trains from Hang Hau Station to Po Lam Station must wait for the trains on the platform of Po Lam Station to leave before departing for Po Lam Station. After calculating the safe distance between trains entering and leaving the station and the time it takes for passengers to get on and off the train, the distance between the two trains before and after is at least 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

Since the maximum train frequency at Po Lam and Hang Hau Stations is limited by the platform design of Po Lam Station, even if the Tseung Kwan O Line signalling system can support more frequent trains, the frequency cannot be further increased.

### Curved Rails

Compared with other MTR lines, the Tseung Kwan O Line has many sharp bends. One of the reasons is to accommodate the terrain of different residential development areas in the new town of Tseung Kwan O. The turning sections include Tseung Kwan O Station to Hang Hau Station , Tseung Kwan O Station to Pak Shing Kok Tunnel and Pak Shing Kok Tunnel to LOHAS Park Station.

In addition, in order to facilitate passengers of the Kwun Tong Line to transfer to the Tseung Kwan O Line to Hong Kong Island and serve the residents of Yau Tong, there are cross-platform interchanges in Yau Tong for the two lines; in order for the two lines to pass through Yau Tong Station side by side , it is also the Kwun Tong Line With a reasonable route design, the Tseung Kwan O Line must turn from Tiu Keng Leng Station and then pass through Siu Keng Wan Shan to Yau Tong Station, and then turn to connect to the original Eastern Harbour Tunnel.

### Train noise

Except for Quarry Bay Station and the section of the Eastern Harbour Tunnel, trains on the Tseung Kwan O Line pass through many bends along the way. A train with a total length of nearly 200 meters has to turn a sharp bend of 90 degrees or more within less than 1000 meters. The rapid friction between the steel wheel and the rail makes a loud noise, and the Tseung Kwan O Line is a sealed square-section tunnel, which is easier than a round-section tunnel to cause echoes and, so the trains make huge noises, especially the farthest distances from Tseung Kwan O Station to [[LOHAS Park Station]] and Tiu Keng Leng Station to Yau Tong Station. The noise is even higher than 100 decibels, which is equivalent to loud noise in a bar The music level is so loud that it completely drowns out the announcement station system and telephone sounds.

Since its commencement, the media and residents have always reported the noise problem to MTRCL, but there has been no significant improvement. Some scholars have pointed out that these noises are caused by friction between the train and the rails when turning, and the sharper the curvature, the more severe the noise. In order to reduce the impact, the MTR Corporation slowed down some sections of the trains on this line, and continuously polished the rails and sprayed lubricants. However, after the trains travel for a long time, the lubricants will gradually be lost, and the trains reduce their speed and travel time. will increase.

In fact, the MTR Corporation has already anticipated the problem, so it specially ordered 13 Korean-made trains (K-Train) with better sound insulation, but did not expect the signal reception problems of the new trains, and switched to M-Trains with worse sound insulation , which made Tseung Kwan O Line passengers continued to suffer from noise.

In response to the termination of the outsourcing system by the Tseung Kwan O Depot and the opening of the LOHAS Park Station in 2009, K-Trains have been running on the Tseung Kwan O Line every holiday since March of the same yearfor signal tests and to let newly recruited captains drive the K-Train. The MTR originally planned to transfer all K-Trains back to the **Tseung Kwan O Line** in July. After testing, it was noticed that the computer on the train could not accurately calculate the parking position, which would affect the travel time and frequency, and finally decided to suspend the implementation again to adjust the system settings.

April 8, 2010 was the big day when all K-Trains returned to the **Tseung Kwan O Line**. The train noise problem that had plagued passengers for many years was finally properly resolved. However, the MTR will still send 2 to 5 M-Trains to operate the Tseung Kwan O Line.

In addition, this line is also the only heavy rail line of the MTR that has a combination of sliding door and recessed door trains.

## Stations

### Platform Safety Doors

Except for Quarry Bay Station, the other platforms of the Tseung Kwan O Line have already installed platform screen doors prior to commencement; the screen doors of Quarry Bay Station were installed at a later stage.

## Train Operation

At present, the westbound Tseung Kwan O Line has North Point as its terminus, eastbound branches at Tseung Kwan O Station, the north terminus is Po Lam, and the southern terminus is LOHAS Park.

After every two trains to and from Po Lam during peak hours , there is one train to and from LOHAS Park, which is called the "2+1" system; that is, there are 18 trains to and from Po Lam every hour, with an average frequency of about 2.5 / 4 minutes, and 9 trains to and from LOHAS Park, the average shift is about 7 minutes. As for off- peak hours , trains travel to and from Po Lam at North Point. Shuttle trains run between Tiu Keng Leng and LOHAS Park, and turns back at the Black Hill Siding west of Tiu Keng Leng.

### Train Numbers

Currently, the Tseung Kwan O Depot, which manages the Tseung Kwan O Line, has a total of 13 Korean-made K-Trains. Every day, 3 to 6 British-made M-Trains are dispatched to the Kowloon Bay Depot on the Kwun Tong Line .

The Tseung Kwan O Line uses a total of 12 trains during peak hours, among which there will be a special train from Tseung Kwan O to North Point during rush hour in the morning on weekdays. During off-peak hours , there are 7 trains running on the main line and 2 trains running on the Cannes shuttle train. Most of the trains are ran by K-Trains, and a small number of trains are ran by M-Trains.

On May 13, 2013, trains made in Changchun, China (C-Train) first travelLed on the Tseung Kwan O Line to carry passengers. Since February 2015, one C-Train began to carry passengers every day, becoming the first MTR local line with three types of trains running at the same time, but this arrangement ended in November 2015.

### Headways

If you want to check the train arrival time information at each station, you can check the real-time train service information through the MTR Mobile app.

**Provide Real-time train service information on all lines.**

### Train Service Hours

#### First Train

Currently, there are three first trains departing from North Point and Tiu Keng Leng on the Tseung Kwan O line heading towards Po Lam/ LOHAS Park, and two first trains departing from Po Lam and LOHAS Park respectively on the way down to North Point. The first shuttle train from LOHAS Park can connect to trains to North Point.

#### Last Train

The last shuttle from LOHAS Park can connect to the last train toNorth Point, and the last train to Po Lam can connect to the last shuttle train to LOHAS Park.

## Future development

In the future, this line will be extended to Tamar Station under the Template:NIL project, with Causeway Bay North and Exhibition Centre (expanded part) as intermediate stops. **Tseung Kwan O Line** will intersect with Tung Chung Line at Tamar.

Previously it was planned to replace the existing Island Line Tin Hau to Kennedy Town section, but it is now withdrawn since 2013.

## References

Template:Reflist

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Full-line operation during Mon-Fri peak hours from North Point, others are shuttle trains starting from Tiu Keng Leng
2. ↑ This is a shuttle train and is not listed in the official timetable.