Austin station (MTR)
Austin is an underground MTR rapid transit station on the Tuen Ma line in Hong Kong, situated perpendicular to Wui Cheung Road and Austin Road West, and formerly adjacent to Jordan Road Ferry Pier Bus Terminus. History. Austin station was built as part of the Kowloon Southern Link project, built to connect the West Rail line and East Rail line. KCR Corporation originally planned two stations along the new section of line: Austin and Canton Road stations. The latter station was cancelled due to failed negotiations with private landowners. As a result, Austin was the only new  station built as part of the Kowloon Southern Link scheme. During the planning and early construction stages, the station was called "West Kowloon station" (). The construction contract KDB200 (West Kowloon Station and Tunnels – Jordan Road to East Tsim Sha Tsui Station) was awarded to the Leighton-Balfour Beatty-Kumagai-John Holland Joint Venture (renamed to "Link 200 Joint Venture" on 9 August 2005) for an estimated contract sum of HK$2.018 billion. This station is part of this contract. Construction was finished in July 2009 and the station opened on 16 August that year. It was located adjacent to the Canton  Road Government Offices until that structure was demolished in 2011. An MTR residential property development, The Austin, was subsequently constructed on the site of the former government offices. A direct connection between Austin station and the West Kowloon Terminus was opened on 23 September 2018. A new underground pedestrian link between Austin station and Xiqu Centre, a Chinese opera house, was opened on 21 March 2021. On 27 June 2021, the West Rail line officially merged with the Ma On Shan line (which was already extended into the "Tuen Ma line Phase 1" at the time) in East Kowloon to  form the new Tuen Ma line, as part of the Shatin to Central link project. Hence, Austin was included in the project and is now an intermediate station on the Tuen Ma line. Station layout. The station has two tracks and one island platform. The surface station building is divided into two parts by Wui Cheung Road. By interchanging between Kowloon and Austin stations, Airport Express passengers using Octopus cards can connect to the MTR urban lines for free, immediately before or after the Airport Express journey. Airport Express passengers can travel around the two stations by walking through Exit  B5 of this station or using the complimentary Airport Express shuttle bus service. However, it only provides out-of-system connection to Kowloon station for Tung Chung line passengers.