Tuen Ma line
The Tuen Ma line is a rapid transit line that forms part of the Mass Transit Railway system in Hong Kong. Coloured brown on the MTR map, the line in its current form, designated as Tuen Ma Line Phase 1, runs from Kai Tak to Wu Kai Sha. When fully operational, the line will be in length, making it the longest line of the entire MTR network. It will have a total of 27 stations, more than any other in the MTR system.
The Tuen Ma line, which is expected to be fully complete by Q1 2021, involves the connection of two existing MTR lines, the West Rail line and the Ma On Shan line, with a new railway line known as the "Tai Wai to Hung Hom section" of the Sha Tin to Central Link project, consisting of of track and six new intermediate stations. The Tai Wai to Kai Tak section opened on 14 February 2020, while the Kai Tak to Hung Hom section is planned to open by the third quarter of 2021, after the completion of reinforcement works at Hung Hom station.
During the planning and construction phase, this line was referred to as the "East West Corridor". On 25 May 2018, the operational name was confirmed by the MTR Corporation to reflect the neighborhoods of the ultimate termini of the resulting line, namely Tuen Mun and Ma On Shan.
Overview
The line presently starts at Kai Tak station in Kai Tak, and ends at Wu Kai Sha station in Wu Kai Sha, Ma On Shan. It is long with twelve stations, and a complete journey lasts 29 minutes in either direction. There are two interchange stations: one with the East Rail line at Tai Wai, and another at Diamond Hill with the Kwun Tong line. The maintenance depot, built by Gammon Construction, is located south of Tai Wai station. Upon the opening of the full line, the interchanges and facilities of the present West Rail line, including the Kowloon Southern Link extension opened in 2009, will also serve the Tuen Ma Line, and Hung Hom will become a major interchange for passengers crossing the harbour to Hong Kong Island.Most of the original Ma On Shan line is built on a viaduct on land which had been reserved for the purpose of a railway from the outset of the development of Ma On Shan New Town. However, the section between Shek Mun and Tai Shui Hang is at ground level, as it is located between the carriageways of Tate's Cairn Highway, along with the section between Tai Wai to Hin Keng, which is also partially on an embankment and parallel to the East Rail line. The remaining section to Kai Tak is underground, as will be much of the remaining section to Hung Hom. Construction methods predominantly include tunnel boring machines and cut-and-cover, though the Lion Rock Tunnel between Hin Keng and the Ma Chai Hang Recreation Ground was constructed using the drill-and-blast method.
While road and rail traffic in Hong Kong move on the left, the operating section of the Tuen Ma line is an exception, as trains move on the right. This allows the southbound tracks of this line and the East Rail line to lie opposite each other at Tai Wai, such that cross-platform interchange could be provided there. This design was to speed up passenger interchange between the East Rail line and Tuen Ma line to Kowloon during the morning commute, although the reverse transfer would require going down to the concourse level and back up again. This layout will be maintained as far as To Kwa Wan, which will have a split platform layout to allow the tracks to switch sides and adopt the left-hand running used on the West Rail line.
Since its opening as part of the KCR system, the interchange station at Tai Wai has not had ticket gates between the Ma On Shan Rail and East Rail platforms, unlike at the former KCR system's interchanges with the MTR system; a trip from either line to the other counted as one ride. There was no direct connection between these two lines and the West Rail while they were part of the KCR network. In June 2016, using the ubiquitous Octopus card, the fare for a single trip on the line ranged from HK$3.7 to HK$5.3, depending on the distance travelled. The fare from Ma On Shan to East Rail line stations in Kowloon ranged from HK$5.3 to HK$10.2.
Rolling stock
For much of its existence, the Tuen Ma line has been, in the Hong Kong context, classified as a "medium-capacity system"; however, it is capable of passenger volumes up to 32,000 passengers per hour per direction, which is comparable to the passenger capacity of a full rapid transit or "metro" system. Furthermore, the line has been upgraded to the standard of a full-capacity system in anticipation of the Sha Tin to Central Link, which will extend it to the heart of Kowloon and result in a merger with the existing, full-capacity West Rail line.KCRC initially ordered 18 sets of SP1950 trains, built by Kinki Sharyo, running in four-car configurations when serviced commenced on the line; they have all since been converted to eight cars. The train is the same model as the SP1900 sets used on the East Rail and West Rail lines, which runs on those lines with twelve-car and eight-car configurations respectively. They were the only trains in use until March 2017, when newly-built eight-car East West line trains, manufactured by CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles, entered service on the line. Both of these models have a maximum running speed of, but only reach a maximum service speed of in the long section between Hin Keng and Diamond Hill stations; they reach between most other stations. Unlike the trains on the East Rail line, there are no first-class compartments. All trains are serviced at Tai Wai depot and are equipped with the SelTrac IS moving-block signalling system for train protection, with provision for upgrading to the radio-based SelTrac CBTC at a later stage to increase capacity.
The first two converted 8-car SP1900 trains were introduced on 15 January 2017. During the transition period with both 4-car and 8-car trains in service, passengers had to pay attention to the platform LCD screens and announcements to queue at the right part of the platforms. Since December 2017, the line has been run fully by 8-car trains and all stations retrofitted with automatic platform gates identical to those installed at elevated stations on MTR's own lines.
History
Before the merger of the two major Hong Kong railway operators, the MTR Corporation and the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation rail networks in 2007, both the West Rail and the Ma On Shan Rail were operated by KCRC. Both railways were envisaged to be extended in the near future; hence, the platforms were built with reserved structures for elongation than necessary for their initial operation.Both MTRC and KCRC independently submitted their own proposals to the Hong Kong government for developing the Sha Tin to Central Link by extending their own existing networks. After numerous revisions of their proposals, the government eventually approved the scheme by KCRC, which involved joining the West Rail and the Ma On Shan Rail via the Wong Tai Sin and Kowloon City districts, and extending East Rail to the Hong Kong Island central business district.
After the 2007 network merger, operations of all transport services of the KCRC have been leased to the MTRC for 50 years. The MTRC also rebranded the 3 local commuter railways to bear the suffix "line" like their own railways. Subsequently the approved SCL schemes fall into the hands of the MTRC.
The construction of East West Corridor, which largely followed an aligned proposed by the MTRC in the 1970s as the East Kowloon line and later shelved, began in August 2016. At the time, it was unclear how MTRC would name the new lines or whether they would retain the project codenames "East West Corridor" and "North South Corridor"; the word "corridor" would set a precedent in the naming convention of MTR lines. Speculation of "East West Line" arose when a photograph of an info plate printed with "EWL" at Ho Man Tin station while it was under construction surfaced. The plate was removed before the opening of the station that year as part of the Kwun Tong line extension to Whampoa. MTRC eventually announced on 25 May 2018 that the finalised name is the Tuen Ma line.
Construction scandal and delay
The Tuen Ma line was planned to be fully operational in 2019, but after concrete structures of the newly built platforms at Hung Hom station failed a safety inspection which occurred between December 2018 and January 2019, its opening was significantly postponed.The head contractor of the SCL construction, Leighton Asia, subsidiary of the CIMIC Group, was accused of covering up the mistakes of the construction until a whistleblower from a subcontractor leaked photo evidence to the local press. This led to more thorough investigations, hearings and inspections behind the set concrete for assessing if it would require demolition and rebuilding the structure from scratch. The Hong Kong government also expressed disappointment in the MTRC executives for their incompetent supervision.
Michael Tien, former KCRC chairman, suggested that it was technically feasible to have the Ma On Shan line be initially extended from Tai Wai to Diamond Hill station instead of delaying the whole line, as this has the advantage of diverging the commuter traffic between Tai Wai and Kowloon Tong stations of the East Rail line, which is overcrowded during peak hours. However, the current MTRC chairman, Frederick Ma, insisted that they aimed at inaugurating the whole line in mid-2019 to avoid the extra resources required for operating the line in separate phases.
On 18 July 2019, the Transport and Housing Bureau announced that the Tuen Ma line would open in two separate phases. On 14 February 2020, the Ma On Shan line was extended from Tai Wai station to Kai Tak station because the latter has a crossover track which permits the operation of the station as a terminus. The extension, named Tuen Ma Line Phase 1, is expected to alleviate significant congestion on the East Rail Line between Tai Wai and Kowloon Tong stations in preparation for the shortening of trainsets as part of preparatory works for the cross-harbour extension of that line. Phase 2 of the Tuen Ma Line, from Kai Tak to Hung Hom, is expected to open by 2021, after the reinforcement works at Hung Hom is completed.