Ho Man Tin station


Ho Man Tin is an underground MTR rapid transit station on the Kwun Tong line. Located beneath Valley Road in Lo Lung Hang, it will become an interchange station for the Tuen Ma line as part of the Sha Tin to Central Link project, which is under construction. The station's lower platforms opened on 23 October 2016 along with Whampoa Station as part of the Kwun Tong line extension, but the upper platforms will remain closed until the completion of the Tuen Ma line.
Despite the name, the station is not located in Ho Man Tin proper but in the lesser known area Lo Lung Hang instead. The central part of Ho Man Tin between Argyle Street and Waterloo Road is in fact more than away on foot. This led to a debate on its naming circa the station's opening.
As of June 2020, the Tuen Ma line platforms are expected to open in the third quarter of 2021.

History

Ho Man Tin Station was constructed under the HK$2.97 billion Kwun Tong Line Extension Contract 1001, which was awarded in 2011 to Nishimatsu Construction. This contract covered not only the station, but also the railway tunnels between Yau Ma Tei and Whampoa Station, including a ventilation building halfway between Yau Ma Tei and Ho Man Tin.
The new, eight-level railway station, cruciform in plan, was built on the site of the Valley Road Estate, which had been demolished a decade earlier. Built into a hillside, the station is partly underground and partly above-ground. The underground levels were excavated through the drill-and-blast method.
Ho Man Tin station opened on 23 October 2016.

Station layout

The station is located between Chung Hau Street and Chatham Road North. While the Tuen Ma Line platforms are boarded up, they are used as a passageway between the concourse and the Kwun Tong Line platforms.
During peak hours, some westbound Kwun Tong Line trains terminate at platform 2 and proceed eastbound past the scissors crossover to a reversing siding. The remaining trains continue to Whampoa Station, the next station eastbound as well as the line's western terminus. This arrangement exists due to the limited capacity of the single terminating track at Whampoa, which cannot turn all of the Kwun Tong Line's trains during rush hours.

Exits

Multiple art-work is installed in this station. One of the art "Between Nature and the City" has a cat on bottom right corner. According to its creator Alex Heung, it is a cat called "Ai Cow", which was pet owned by a Chinese medical store in Ho Man Tin. But it was lost in 2014 and netizens have launched a search campaign on Facebook. Through this cat, Alex highlights the connection and emotion of people,community and environment in his art work.