Exhibition Centre station (MTR)


Exhibition Centre is an MTR interchange station currently under construction on the East Rail line and the proposed North Island line. It will be an underground station located underneath the existing Wan Chai North public transport interchange, Harbour Road Sports Centre and Wan Chai Swimming Pool. It will serve the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre at Wan Chai North, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. Its location is within walking distance to Wan Chai station of the Island line. The station is set to be completed in 2021 or 2022.

Description

The station serves the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, the Wan Chai Sports Ground, and various nearby office towers in Wan Chai North.
It will be an interchange station between the North Island Line and the North South Corridor of the Sha Tin-Central Link, offering cross-platform interchange between the two lines. Initially, only the North South Corridor platforms will be open, as the North Island Line is still under planning.
The station is designed by Farrells. In January 2015, MTR awarded a contract to Leighton in a joint venture with China State Construction to construct the station and western approach tunnel. The Wan Chai Bus Terminus, where the station will be built, was relocated to newly reclaimed land and the station groundbreaking took place on the former bus station site on 20 April 2015.
The station will be built on the site of the existing Harbour Road Sports Centre, Wan Chai Swimming Pool, and a bus terminus, which must all be demolished and reprovisioned elsewhere before construction shall begin. The swimming pool and sports centre are being rebuilt on the car park site immediately to the south. The bus terminus has temporarily relocated to the reclamation area near the new Wan Chai Ferry Pier.
On top of the station, a Convention Centre will be built as an expansion of the nearby Convention and Exhibition Centre. The enabling works for this topside development are included during the station construction.

Entrances/Exits

Renaming

This station was formerly named Exhibition Station, but in late 2017 was renamed to Exhibition Centre Station, while the Chinese name remained the same.

WWII bombs discovery

On 27 and 31 of January 2018, two American-made AN-M65 bombs, believed to be dropped during World War Two weighing about each, were discovered by workers at its construction site. The construction was suspended for bomb disposal work. Nearly 5000 people in the surrounding area are evacuated. Each operation took nearly 24 hours for preparation and disposal. No injuries were reported.