Phase I LRV

A 2-Car Phase I LRV running on Route **614**

The **Phase I LRV** is the first Light Rail train to be put into service. It is fully owned by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation and leased to the MTR Corporation for operation after the merger of the two railways. These vehicles were built by the Australian company Comeng in the 1980s.

## Introduction

There are 70 cars in the first phase, which were put into service when the first phase of 1988 when Light Rail was opened to traffic, numbered from **1001** to **1070**, and the body was painted with Predominantly orange and white, being KCRC's older livery. These cars can be distinguished from other LRVs by their rear emergency window, while subsequent orders of LRVs have a rear emergency door.

The first train arrived in October 1987, being car 1004.

In 1991, KCRC added handrails and removed some seats in this type of carriage, ; and in 1992 to improve the air-conditioning system at a cost of HK$202 million, the project was completed in March 1993.

From 1997 to 2000, the first-generation LRVs were successively put on a newer livery, mainly blue and red similar to those of the IKK SP1900 EMUs. This also included the installation of a next stop reporting system. Seat belts and backrests have been added to the multi-purpose spaces of all LRVs.

## Named LRVs: Light Rail Pioneer, F.D. Snell and Light Rail Love

Train No. **1004** was named "Light Rail Pioneer" because it was the first LRV to arrive in Hong Kong (arriving at the end of 1987) and was able to move under its own power. Train No. **1070** was named “F.D Snell” to commemorate Mr. F.D Snell’s contribution to the construction of the Light Rail system, also being the last of the original 70 LRVs to enter service, receiving a plaque in his honour. Train No. **1027** was temporarily named "Light Rail Love” on June 24, 1994 and converted into a temporary mobile blood donation station in response to the Hong Kong Red Cross Society campaign.

In 2011, both 1004 & 1070 were refurbished by United Goninan. After the refurbishment, there were no signs of the names on either LRV, with the plaque on the latter also removed when it received the new cab. 1004 was temporarily reinstated with its name in 2018 in honour of it being the first LRV to operate.

## Destination Display

Destination Displays originally used rolling displays (or rollsigns) for the route numbers and destinations, both of which were printed on the same cloth. Whether viewed outside the train or inside the carriage, the name of the destination was printed on the left with the English name on top and the Chinese name below, and the right side was printed with the orange route number. The side display would also show this information inside the LRV and had an inverted rollsigns as a result. In addition, there was no route display shown at the rear of the Phase I and II LRVs, but in 1999 some passengers complained to the newspaper that there was no route number display at the rear of the train, which prevented passengers from seeing the route clearly, leading them to miss their trains. At that time, KCRC said rear rollsigns could not be installed due to technical problems (as the rear caps of the trains were not designed to accommodate a rear display without hindering the rear emergency exit). It was later stated that it would be recorded for future reference.

In the early 2000s, new rear caps were delivered with a hole to accommodate the rear LED display, which were then installed on the LRVs while the front and side displays were converted to LED. On October 10, 2002, the first LRV equipped with front, side and rear orange yellow LED destination displays (train number 1010) was put into service, and the remaining Phase I LRVs and Phase II LRVs had their destination displays replaced one after another, costing HKD 2 Million. The refit also included adding a LED route display to the interior. This required a new cap for the rear of the LRVs to accommodate the rear display housing and would sometimes coincide with when they were painted into the second version of the KCR livery. Exposures on the front and side electronic displays are directly based off the cloth rollsigns, with the English text above the Chinese text, while the route number is displayed in a separate screen on the side display. However, in most cases, the side number display and rear display will be blank if set to show an exposure without a route number (special trips or when the LRV is deadheading/not in service). In addition, the destination displays will do a pixel test when changing directions at the end of a route, although this is omitted when the vehicle is being put in service or taken out of service. The rear and side number displays can also be programmed to display Chinese characters, although this was not attempted until 2023 when custom exposures began to be used.

The Phase III LRVs, addressing this concern, were delivered from Goninan with flip dot displays on the front, door side and rear (although the interior route display and next stop system use orange LED displays). Subsequent LRV orders would be equipped from the factory with front, side and rear LED displays.

### MTR-ification

In December 2007, after the merger of the two railway networks, the KCRC branding on the rear cap of the LRVs was removed while the KCR logos on the cab were replaced with the MTR logo.

At present, all the Phase I LRVs have MTR branding/livery after refurbishment and 1017 was the first car of the light rail trains to be switched to MTR-style broadcasting for trials. However, announcements were kept with the original KCR voice after the tri-lingual announcements took too long, except for when a stop with a connection with the Tuen Ma Line is announced. This was originally a mixed announcement after the merger (using the MTR voice for "Interchange station with the West Rail Line"); this was switched to an announcement solely using the MTR voice upon the full Tuen Ma Line being inaugurated. As a result, Light Rail and MTR Bus do not have Mandarin announcements, unlike other public transit services with automated announcements in Hong Kong.

Trains No. 1016 and 1036 still had the old MTR sticker after the refurbishment, but have had it replaced with a new version since to match other trains.

## Refurbishment

In 2011, cars 1001-1012, 1014-1026 and 1028-1070 were refurbished by United Goninan. This included replacing the cab with a new one based on the Phase IV LRV alongside repainting the vehicles into the current MTR livery (white base with purple/green stripes). Passenger seats were also replaced with green/purple ones while the doors were repainted white. The side display was also moved to the window behind the last service door, similar to those on Phase IV and Phase V LRVs. In addition, the new cab replaced the manual run number box with a LED display shown directly under the route display. This work was completed in December 2013.

As part of the refurbishment process in 2013, 1045 was equipped with a pilot external announcement system. The pilot was not successful and the speakers was subsequently removed.

## Retro Liveries

In 2018, 1004 was wrapped with the original orange/white livery and temporarily reinstated with its name, "LRV Pioneer" for the 30th Anniversary of the Light Rail system.

For the 35th anniversary in summer 2023, car 1066 was wrapped with the original orange/white livery and also given repainted orange plastic seats. However, the rollsign was not reinstalled (as it would be too costly to do so). 1066 was displayed at Siu Hong Station for a 35th anniversary event on August 20, 2023, displaying a custom exposure with run number 066. In addition, class leader 1001 was wrapped in the retro livery in August 2023, with both being mainly deployed to route 610 as a two-car train.

## Related Events/Premature Withdrawal

### Collisions

Among them, **1013** was severely damaged in a traffic accident in 1994, when it hit a lorry towing a semi trailer at the junction of Wu King Road and Wu Shan Road, killing the LRV driver and injuring 4 others. It was retired following the accident and kept as a parts donor until 2001, when it was scrapped.

**1027** was severely damaged after a collision with a truck while operating route 706 in 2011, injuring 23 people. Consequently, it was never refurbished, nor did it return to service. It was decommissioned two years later and despite being repaired in 2014, 1027 was kept in the depot as a parts donor for another eight years. On October 29, 2022, 1027 was removed from the depot and subsequently scrapped.

1014 was also severely damaged after a major accident in 2021 when it hit a truck that ran a red light near Chung Uk Tsuen (Kwong Tin Street, Tuen Mun) that caused 22 minor injuries, with passengers also breaking an emergency exit window to evacuate. At the time of the incident, 1014 was 33 years old and the Phase V LRVs were being delivered to the system. Consequently, due to a lack of available parts, MTR chose not to repair this LRV and had it retired, turning it into a parts donor and storage room at the depot.

### Vandalism

Around 8:00 pm on October 4, 2019, 1037 & 1068, as a two-car train were parked at Tuen Mun Ferry Pier when protesters broke into the lead car, destroying the window glass and forcing open the driver's cab door. There were no passengers or staff on the train at the time as the vehicles were not operating any route. The damage to the LRVs caused them to be taken out of service for window replacement until December of that year.

## Gallery

A Model of an unrefurbished Phase I LRV (November 2011)A Phase I LRV in the orange and white livery of the KCR coupled to a Phase II LRV in orange and white livery of the KCRA Phase I LRV in the orange and white livery of the KCRA Phase I LRV in the orange and white livery of the KCR coupled to a Phase II LRV in orange and white livery of the KCRA Phase I LRV in the blue and red livery of the Kowloon-Canton RailwayThe old **Light Rail** System Map in the trainUnit 1028's Cab through the windowThe opened emergency escape window of Unit 1020A refurbished Phase I LRVA refurbished Phase I LRV

**Gallery Page**：
Phase I LRV

## See Also

* hkitalk：好相話當年:輕鐵第一代車身顏色
* Phase II LRV
* Coupled-Set LRV Vehicles

## References

1. ↑ The "Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation 1991 Report" (Hong Kong: Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, 1992), No. 35 pages.
2. ↑ "Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation Annual Report 1992" (Hong Kong: Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, 1993), p. 17.
3. ↑ Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation 1993 Report (Hong Kong: Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, 1994), p. 26.
4. ↑ Related Photos, Facebook MTRRiders page

**Gallery Page**：
Phase I LRV