Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
West Rail Line
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| West Rail Line | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Sign of the West Rail Line at Nam Cheong Station
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The West Rail Line (Chinese: 西鐵綫) (formerly called West Rail, Chinese: 西鐵) is one of the MTR lines in Hong Kong. It starts at Nam Cheong station in Sham Shui Po and ends at Tuen Mun station in Tuen Mun.
Currently the West Rail Line provides local service on its own. No inter-city service is offered, making it effectively more like a metro instead of a commuter railway, although it was built in commuter railway standard, and was expected to accommodate other trains in future.
The railway line was operated by Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) as part of the three lines in its network prior to the MTR-KCR merger. Operation has since since been taken over by MTR Corporation on 2 December 2007 after the merger completed.
Contents |
A railway to the northwestern New Territories from the urban area in Kowloon was proposed in the early 1990s. Both the MTR and the KCRC submitted plans to the government, but finally the KCRC's proposal to Tin Shui Wai new town was selected. However, several major accidents on Tuen Mun Road made residents in Tuen Mun request a railway connection within the centre of the new town of Tuen Mun. This made the route in the final decision deviate from the original plan (which terminated at the centre of Tin Shui Wai new town), terminating near Tuen Mun Town Centre.
The first phase of construction included a double-track commuter railway connecting Tuen Mun station and Nam Cheong stations. This system has been in operation since December 20, 2003.
Originally, the KCRC expected the West Rail line to have a daily ridership figure of 200,000 passengers, but unsatisfactory onward connections between stations and the areas they serve meant that the number of commuters choosing to use the West Rail Line line remained far short of the goal after opening. The KCRC was also blamed for its route planning and forceful reduction of bus services, which has mainly been provided by Kowloon Motor Bus after operations began.
Furthermore, due to the frequent breakdowns, the chairman of KCRC, Michael Tien, announced that if the performance of West Rail Line did not improve, he would have considered resigning. Although monthly passes were introduced on August 1, 2004, and the daily ridership increased to 150,000, there was still a long way to go before the KCRC's goal of 200,000 passengers was met.
Since December 20 2004, the further discount of 20% was cancelled due to the quick recovery of the economy and a ridership increase to 170,000. The monthly pass concession was extended for another half a year.
In August 2005, Michael Tien announced that 90% of breakdowns of the signalling system are due to failure of axle counters. 45% of the whole line is elevated, which makes power lines easier to be hit by lightning, therefore causing such breakdowns. The average distance between two stations is 3 km, which results in a longer time for engineers to repair the signalling system. The most serious breakdown happened on July 21, 2005 and caused a delay of up to 40 minutes, which exceeds the total journey time of 30 minutes.
For this reason, KCRC decided to throw over HK$10M to improve the signalling system, including hiring foreign railway experts and finding solutions to decrease down-time.
The track for the West Rail Line was laid underground only between Mei Foo and Kam Sheung Road stations. North of Kam Sheung Road station, the track emerges to the surface, and there is a depot between the tunnel portion and the station. The train is actually at ground level south of Mei Foo station, but the covered tracks makes most passengers feel like they are travelling underground. The rest of the line was built on a viaduct, which was constructed so that there is room for an emergency passage.
This is a list of all the stations on West Rail. The coloured boxes holding the station names represent the unique colour motif for the station.
| Livery and Name | District | Connection(s) | Date opened |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Rail Line | |||
| Hung Hom1 | Yau Tsim Mong | East Rail Line | |
| East Tsim Sha Tsui1 | Tsim Sha Tsui Station for Tsuen Wan Line | ||
| West Kowloon#1 | Kowloon Station for Tung Chung Line and Airport Express |
||
| Nam Cheong | Sham Shui Po | Tung Chung Line | 20 December 2003 |
| Mei Foo | Tsuen Wan Line | ||
| Tsuen Wan West | Tsuen Wan | 2 | |
| Kam Sheung Road | Yuen Long | Northern Link3 | |
| Yuen Long | Light Rail | ||
| Long Ping | |||
| Tin Shui Wai | Light Rail | ||
| Siu Hong | Tuen Mun | ||
| Tuen Mun | |||
- Notes
* Proposed
# Under construction
1 West Kowloon is the station on the proposed Kowloon Southern Link. It is an extension of the West Rail Line designed to link up to the East Rail Line at Hung Hom Station. Upon completion of the link, East Tsim Sha Tsui Station, currently serving only the East Rail, will also serve the West Rail.
2 Tsuen Wan West station and Tsuen Wan station of Tsuen Wan Line are not physically linked. However, green minibus route 95K is provided between the two stations (free transfer with an immediate West Rail journey record on the Octopus card). Journey time is 15-20 minutes Tsuen Wan Station on foot.
3 Plans intend to expand Kam Sheung Road Station in the future, to act as an interchange station between the West Rail main line and the Northern Link extension. For the time being, Kam Sheung Road is a plain through-station without any interchange facilities.
At 09:15 on February 14, 2007, a passenger train broke down when one of the transformers mounted on the train roof exploded. It is suspected that the overheated transformer caused its insulating oil to vapourize, thus causing the explosion. In addition, the circuit breaker of the transformer apparently failed to cut the power supply to the transformer.
The scene was in a tunnel on the southbound section between Kam Sheung Road to Tsuen Wan West, about 2 km from Tsuen Wan West. Around 650 passengers had to evacuate through the dark tunnel to the station, and around 340 people returned to the ground through a ventilation shaft at Chai Wan Kok. Eleven people were sent to hospital. Train services returned normal after 4 hours[1].
As an apology, the West Rail was opened for free rides on February 21, 2007, the first working day after the Chinese New Year holiday[2].
The West Rail Line will be extended both to the south and north in the future. The Northern Link will go from Kam Sheung Road Station to Lok Ma Chau Station, and to Sheung Shui Station via Chau Tau Station. The Kowloon Southern Link will be an extension from Nam Cheong Station to the East Rail Line Hung Hom Station via East Tsim Sha Tsui Station with an intermediate station to be called West Kowloon Station located east of Kowloon Station station on the Tung Chung Line and Airport Express.
In the latest Sha Tin to Central Link proposal, West Rail Line, which will terminate in Hung Hom Station, will extend northwards to connect Ma On Shan Line in Tai Wai Station.
There were suggestions to use the tracks of the West Rail Line to accommodate the future Regional Express to Guangzhou via Shenzhen. However, dedicated corridor option has been decided during the Hong Kong/Guangdong Co-operation Joint Conference held on August 2007.
- ^ Cheng, Jonathan (February 15, 2007). KCRC in pledge on safety. Hong Kong Standard. Retrieved on 2007-01-30.
- ^ Remarks of KCRC Chairman Mr Michael Tien on the West Rail Incident. KCRC (February 15, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-02-18.
|
|
|
|---|---|
| Lines of the MTR |
Airport Express · Disneyland Resort Line · East Rail Line · Island Line · Kwun Tong Line · Ma On Shan Line · Light Rail · Tseung Kwan O Line · Tsuen Wan Line · Tung Chung Line · West Rail Line |
| Other pages | |
|
|
|
|---|---|
| Operating | Beijing Subway • Changchun LRT • Chongqing Metro • Guangzhou Metro • Hong Kong MTR • Nanjing Metro • Shanghai Metro • Shenzhen Metro • Tianjin Metro • Wuhan Metro |
| Under construction | Chengdu Metro • Hangzhou Metro • Shenyang Metro • Xi'an Subway |
| In planning | Harbin Subway • Macau Light Transit System • Qingdao Subway |