West Rail Line
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West Rail Line |
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 Sign pointing to the West Rail Line at Nam Cheong Station |
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The West Rail Line (Chinese: 西鐵綫) (formerly called West Rail, Chinese: 西鐵) is one of the MTR lines in Hong Kong. It starts at Nam Cheong station in Sham Shui Po and ends at Tuen Mun station in Tuen Mun.
Currently the West Rail Line provides a local service on its own. No inter-city service is offered, making it effectively more like a metro instead of a commuter railway, although it was built in commuter railway standard, and was expected to accommodate other trains in future.
The railway line was operated by Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) as part of the three lines in its network prior to the MTR-KCR merger. Operation has since since been taken over by MTR Corporation on 2 December 2007 after the merger completed.
The line is coloured magenta on the MTR map.
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[edit] History
A railway to the northwestern New Territories from the urban area in Kowloon was proposed in the early 1990s. Both the MTR and the KCRC submitted plans to the government, but ultimately the KCRC's proposal to Tin Shui Wai new town was selected. However, several major accidents on Tuen Mun Road made residents in Tuen Mun request a railway connection within the centre of the new town of Tuen Mun. This made the route in the final proposal deviate from the original plan (which terminated at the centre of Tin Shui Wai new town), to terminate near Tuen Mun Town Centre.
The first phase of construction included a double-track commuter railway connecting Tuen Mun station and Nam Cheong stations. This system has been in operation since December 20, 2003.
[edit] Initial Operation
Originally, the KCRC expected the West Rail line to have a daily ridership figure of 200,000 passengers, but poor onward connections between stations and the areas they serve meant that the number of commuters choosing to use the West Rail Line line remained far short of the goal after opening. The KCRC was also blamed for its route planning and forceful reduction of bus services, which has mainly been provided by Kowloon Motor Bus after operations began.
Furthermore, due to the frequent breakdowns, the chairman of KCRC, Michael Tien, announced that if the performance of West Rail Line did not improve, he would considered resigning. Although monthly passes were introduced on August 1, 2004, and the daily ridership increased to 150,000, there was still a long way to go before the KCRC's goal of 200,000 passengers was met.
Since December 20 2004, the further discount of 20% was cancelled due to the quick recovery of the economy and a ridership increase to 170,000. The monthly pass concession was extended for another half a year.
[edit] Improvement of Signalling System
In August 2005, Michael Tien announced that 90% of breakdowns of the signalling system are due to failure of axle counters. 45% of the whole line is elevated, which makes power lines easier to be hit by lightning, therefore causing such breakdowns. The average distance between two stations is 3 km, which results in a longer time for engineers to repair the signalling system. The most serious breakdown occurred on July 21, 2005 and caused a delay of up to 40 minutes, which exceeds the total journey time of 30 minutes.
For this reason, KCRC decided to throw over HK$10M to improve the signalling system, including hiring foreign railway experts and finding solutions to decrease down-time.
[edit] Route Description
The track for the West Rail Line is underground only between Nam Cheong and Kam Sheung Road stations. South of Kam Sheung Road station, the track emerges to the surface, and there is a depot situated between the tunnel portion and the station. The train is actually at ground level south of Mei Foo station, though the tracks are covered. The rest of the line is built on a viaduct, which was constructed to accommodate emergency passages.
 Interior of a West Rail Line Train |
 A family chatting on a West Rail Line Train |
[edit] Fare System
The fare system of the line generally follows the other lines on the ex-KCR network. Octopus cards and single ride tickets are available. All persons aged between 12 and 64 (including students) are charged the Adult fare, while children aged 11 or below, and elderly aged 65 or above. After the Rail Merger, passengers using Octopus cards interchanging at Mei Foo or Nam Cheong stations to the Tsuen Wan Line or Tung Chung Line may enjoy fare concessions. The total fare is calculated from the starting and ending stations in the whole journey, irrespective of which interchange station was chosen.
The line also offers day passes and monthly passes.[1] Monthly Passes are stored in the Octopus Card, and allows the passenger to enjoy unlimited rides of the West Rail Line, Light Rail, MTR Buses, MTR Feeder Bus Route K16 and designated minibus routes within the month. They are sold at $400 and holders of the $300 monthly pass can continue to enjoy the $300 / month offer. Day Passes are in the form of a magnetic ticket, plus a paper folder which is called the "Boarding Pass". They are sold at $20, and the passenger can enjoy unlimited rides of the West Rail Line, Light Rail, MTR Buses and MTR Feeder Bus Route K16 within the service day. They need to use the ticket to pass through the entry / exit gates at West Rail Line stations. When travelling on buses, they need to present the ticket with the boarding pass when they board. When travelling on the Light Rail, they need to present the ticket with the boarding pass during ticket inspection. Holders of 10 West Rail Line Day Passes can exchange for a new West Rail Day Pass at West Rail Stations.
[edit] Stations
This is a list of all the stations on West Rail. The coloured boxes holding the station names represent the unique colour motif for the station.
| Livery and Name | District | Connection(s) | Date opened |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Rail Line | |||
| Hung Hom1 | Yau Tsim Mong | East Rail Line | |
| East Tsim Sha Tsui1 | Tsim Sha Tsui Station for Tsuen Wan Line | ||
| West Kowloon#1 | Kowloon Station for Tung Chung Line and Airport Express |
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| Nam Cheong | Sham Shui Po | Tung Chung Line | 20 December 2003 |
| Mei Foo | Tsuen Wan Line | ||
| Tsuen Wan West | Tsuen Wan | 2 | |
| Kam Sheung Road | Yuen Long | Northern Link3 | |
| Yuen Long | Light Rail | ||
| Long Ping | |||
| Tin Shui Wai | Light Rail | ||
| Siu Hong | Tuen Mun | ||
| Tuen Mun | |||
- Notes
* Proposed
# Under construction
2 Tsuen Wan West Station of the West Rail Line and Tsuen Wan Station of Tsuen Wan Line are not physically linked. However, green minibus route 95K is provided between the two stations (free transfer with an immediate West Rail Line journey record on the Octopus card). Journey time is 15-20 minutes Tsuen Wan Station on foot.
[edit] Major Incidents
At 09:15 on February 14, 2007, a passenger train broke down when one of the transformers mounted on the train roof exploded. It is suspected that the overheated transformer caused its insulating oil to vapourise, thus causing the explosion. In addition, the circuit breaker of the transformer apparently failed to cut the power supply to the transformer.
This incident occurred in a tunnel on the southbound section between Kam Sheung Road and Tsuen Wan West, about 2 km from Tsuen Wan West. Around 650 passengers had to evacuate through the dark tunnel to the station, and around 340 people returned to the ground through a ventilation shaft at Chai Wan Kok. Eleven people were sent to hospital. Train services returned normal after 4 hours[2].
As an apology, the West Rail was opened for free rides on February 21, 2007, the first working day after the Chinese New Year holiday[3].
[edit] Future Development
The West Rail Line will be extended both to the south and north in the future. The Northern Link will go from Kam Sheung Road Station to Lok Ma Chau Station, and to Sheung Shui Station via Chau Tau Station. The Kowloon Southern Link will be an extension from Nam Cheong Station to the East Rail Line Hung Hom Station via East Tsim Sha Tsui Station with an intermediate station to be called West Kowloon Station located east of Kowloon Station station on the Tung Chung Line and Airport Express.
In the latest Sha Tin to Central Link proposal, West Rail Line, which will terminate in Hung Hom Station, will extend northwards to connect Ma On Shan Line in Tai Wai Station.
There were suggestions to use the tracks of the West Rail Line to accommodate the future Regional Express to Guangzhou via Shenzhen. However, dedicated corridor option has been decided during the Hong Kong/Guangdong Co-operation Joint Conference held on August 2007.
[edit] References
- ^ Day Pass . Monthly Pass. Mass Transit Railway Corporation (December 2007). Retrieved on 2008-04-26.
- ^ Cheng, Jonathan (February 15, 2007). KCRC in pledge on safety. Hong Kong Standard. Retrieved on 2007-01-30.
- ^ Remarks of KCRC Chairman Mr Michael Tien on the West Rail Incident. KCRC (February 15, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-02-18.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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