Tseung Kwan O Line

Tseung Kwan O Line
將軍澳綫

Overview
Type Rapid transit
System MTR
Locale Districts served: Eastern, Kwun Tong, Sai Kung
Stations 8
Ridership 333,300 daily average
(weekdays, September 2014)[1]
Operation
Opening 4 August 2002
Technical
Line length 12.3 km (7.6 mi)
Track gauge 1,432 mm (4 ft 8 3⁄8 in)
Electrification 1.5 kV DC
Route map
Legend
 Island Line
North Point     
Quarry Bay     
 Eastern Harbour Crossing
Kwun Tong Line
Yau Tong     
Tiu Keng Leng     
 Tseung Kwan O
Hang Hau
Po Lam
Tseung Kwan O Depot
LOHAS Park
Tseung Kwan O Line
Traditional Chinese 將軍澳綫
Simplified Chinese 将军澳线

The Tseung Kwan O Line (TKL) is one of the eleven lines of the MTR system in Hong Kong, indicated with the colour purple. It is currently 12.3-kilometre (7.6 mi) long, taking 15 minutes to travel throughout the entire line.

The line runs from North Point on the Hong Kong Island to the new town of Tseung Kwan O. It bifurcates east of Tseung Kwan O Station into two branches, one northward to Po Lam and one southward to LOHAS Park. The Tseung Kwan O Depot at LOHAS Park is responsible for the maintenance of the line's rolling stock.

During the morning peak period, the Tseung Kwan O Line uses 15 trains to maintain a frequency of 2.7 minutes.

Route description

Geographically accurate map of the MTR Tseung Kwan O Line

Tseung Kwan O Line is the first MTR line with no tracks on viaducts. The stations of Yau Tong, Po Lam and LOHAS Park are at the ground level, but are completely shielded to minimise noise to the surrounding development. The rest of the line has its tracks located underground.

The western terminus of the line is North Point, providing cross-platform interchange together with the neighbouring station of Quarry Bay. East of Quarry Bay the line passes under Victoria Harbour to Yau Tong Station, a station serving the East Kowloon neighbourhood of the same name, using the rail tunnel of Eastern Harbour Crossing. From Yau Tong, the line passes Black Hill Tunnels to enter Tseung Kwan O New Town at Tiu Keng Leng.

Within Tseung Kwan O new town, the line splits into two branches east of Tseung Kwan O Station. One branch reaches Hang Hau and Po Lam stations in the northern part of the new town, whereas the southward branch connects LOHAS Park Station in Area 86. LOHAS Park is a large-scale residential development built above the MTR Tseung Kwan O Depot, where the trains of the line are maintained.

Train operations

As the line splits into two branches at Tseung Kwan O, the operation of the line is relatively complex when compared to other lines of the MTR.

The majority of trains on the line run through from Po Lam to North Point and vice versa. Through service between LOHAS Park and North Point is only provided during rush hour; during non-peak period, LOHAS Park is only served by "shuttle trains" terminating at Tiu Keng Leng, operating at 12-minute intervals. Passengers travelling to and from LOHAS Park during non-peak hours are required to change trains at Tiu Keng Leng or Tseung Kwan O in continuing their journey.

Train headway

History

This line was planned to serve the new town of Tseung Kwan O and was first proposed in 1985.[2] The construction cost was estimated at three billion Hong Kong dollars,.[3] The line was to be built beginning in 1992 and to open by the end of 1996.[3] This plan was cancelled by the MTR Corporation in August 1990.[4]

MTR re-proposed the line in 1993, and the plan was approved by the Hong Kong Executive Council on 20 October 1998. Construction commenced on 24 April 1999 and the line opened on 18 August 2002, at a cost of 18 billion Hong Kong dollars.[5] The new line took over the cross-harbour segment, via the Eastern Harbour Tunnel to North Point station, from the Kwun Tong Line. The Kwun Tong Line was extended to Yau Tong and Tiu Keng Leng stations to interchange with the new line.

Realignment of Kwun Tong Line upon the inauguration of Tseung Kwan O Line.

Trains

The line is served by K-Stock and M-Trains (G-Stock, H-Stock and Q-Stock). The K-Stock trains were manufactured by a consortium of Hyundai Rotem and Mitsubishi Corporation, and were expected to be quieter and to use energy generated from deceleration.

Although tailor-made for the line, the K-Stock trains actually ran on the Kwun Tong Line from launch through April 2010, and the original M-Trains ran on this line instead. The K-Stock trains were finally transferred to this line since April 2010.

Stations

This is a list of all the stations on the Tseung Kwan O Line. The colored boxes holding the station name represents the unique colour scheme for each station.

Name District Connection(s) Date opened
Tseung Kwan O Line
North Point Eastern      Island Line 27 September 2001
(as part of Kwun Tong Line)
Quarry Bay 6 August 1989
(as part of Kwun Tong Line)
Yau Tong Kwun Tong      Kwun Tong Line 4 August 2002
Tiu Keng Leng Sai Kung 18 August 2002
Tseung Kwan O
Hang Hau
Po Lam
Spur line after Tseung Kwan O Station
LOHAS Park Sai Kung 26 July 2009

Future development

Main article: North Island Line

The Tseung Kwan O Line will probably be extended to Tamar Station and interchange with Tung Chung Line.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tseung Kwan O Line.

References

  1. ↑ "Weekday patronage of MTR heavy rail network from September 1 to 27 and September 28 to October 25, 2014" (PDF). Legislative Council. 29 October 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  2. ↑ "支線全長約七公里 將有五至六個車站 經藍田調景嶺填海區直達將軍澳 近三十三萬人口保證乘客量足夠". Page 5 of Ta Kung Pao. 1987-12-25.(traditional Chinese)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "李敦接受記者訪問表示 地鐵建將軍澳支線 財政安排正待批准 如獲港府批准將於九二年動工". Page 5 of Ta Kung Pao. 1987-12-25.(traditional Chinese)
  4. ↑ "地鐵已明確表態不興建將軍澳支線". Page 1 of Wah Kiu Yat Po (華僑日報). 1990-08-27.(traditional Chinese)
  5. ↑ "地鐵支線通車 市民「趁熱鬧」 爭搭頭班車千人大混亂". Apple Daily. 2002-08-19.(traditional Chinese)

External links