Admiralty Station (MTR)

Admiralty station is an MTR station located on Hong Kong Island, in an area often referred to as Admiralty. The station's livery is dodger blue. The station connects the Tsuen Wan Line with the Island Line in cross-platform interchange type.

The station is named after HMS Tamar (a place of land now known as Tamar site), once the headquarters of the Royal Navy in Hong Kong - this, even though HMS Tamar had never actually been the Admiralty. It was built on the former site of the Hong Kong naval dockyards, which was built in 1878 and demolished in the 1970s.

Development

The Government had given the MTR Corporation first refusal on the 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m²) site, which was subsequently sold to it in 1976 for around HK$200 million for cash and equity consideration.^[1]

The Admiralty Centre, United Centre and Queensway Plaza formed part of development, and sit directly above the station.

Usage

As the primary interchange station for most Tsuen Wan Line and the Island Line riders, Admiralty is heavily congested during rush hours. Currently, Admiralty and North Point are the only cross-platform interchange stations between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island lines in the entire MTR system. Despite trains departing at capacity (every 2.1 minutes), commuters frequently have to board the second or even the third train when interchanging. The situation has deteriorated following fare cuts due to the MTR-KCRC merger.^[2]

2004 arson attack

On 5 January 2004, 14 passengers suffered minor injuries when a 55-year-old delusional man ignited a bottle of thinner in an Admiralty-bound train from Tsim Sha Tsui. The driver decided to complete the journey and passengers were evacuated from the train in Admiralty^[3]. To date it is the only arson attempt in MTR's history.

Future development

The Sha Tin to Central Link and the South Island Line projects are under development, completing in 2020 and 2015, respectively. The former will allow commuters from North-East New Territories direct interchange from the East Rail Line, whereas the latter, terminating at Admiralty, will give residents in the Southern District much quicker access to the CBD. A new underground interchange concourse with natural light will be built to the east of the current concourse, taking up one level, allowing passengers to transfer to the new lines, conveniently. The Sha Tin to Central Link will be one level under the interchange concourse, with the South Island Line being directly below it. Exit E1 and E2 is being rebuilt into one eye-catching exit to accommodate the glass roof of the interchange concourse.

Station layout

There are very wide passageway between 2 platforms on each floor, they are also curve platforms with opposite directions, the platforms form a trapezium. Because all the platforms are curved and it is a major interchange station, there are large stickers in front of the screen doors with "Mind the gap" text, which can be only found in this station.

Passengers travelling from Eastern District and Wan Chai District can walk across to platform 1 to board the Tsuen Wan line EMUs bound for West Kowloon, Kwai Chung and Tsuen Wan.

Passengers travelling from West Kowloon, Kwai Chung and Tsuen Wan can walk across to platform 3 to board the Island line EMUs bound for Chai Wan in Eastern District.

Entrances/exits

Admiralty is part of the Central Business District of Hong Kong Island. There are many office buildings around the station. A major shopping mall, Pacific Place, is accessed through a long pedestrian walkway from Exit F.

• A: Admiralty Centre
• B: Lippo Centre
• C1/C2: Queensway
• D: United Centre
• E1/E2: Harcourt Garden/Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts (Permanently Closed)
• F: Pacific Place

Transport Connections

There is a bus terminus stretching across the length of Admiralty that can be reached by Exits B, C2 and D. This buses connect to many different parts of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories.

Bus Routes

• Bus
  • KMB, serving only cross-harbour routes on Hong Kong Island
  • First Bus
  • Citybus
  • Bus termini within walking distance of the station
    • Admiralty (West) - Exit B
    • Admiralty (Tamar Street) - Exit B
    • Admiralty (Drake St) - Exit C2
    • Admiralty (East) - Exit D
    • Admiralty (Rodney St) - between Exits E1 and E2

Neighbouring stations

Future neighbouring stations

References