History East Rail Line

1 history

1.1 background

1.1.1 proposal
1.1.2 construction


1.2 pre-electrification era

1.2.1 opening of british section
1.2.2 opening of chinese sector
1.2.3 closing of sha tau kok branch
1.2.4 post-1930s
1.2.5 change of terminus


1.3 1980s modernisation
1.4 recent developments
1.5 tunnels

history
background

proposal

the united kingdom , china signed agreement cooperate on construction of railway kowloon canton (now guangzhou). whole project 87 miles long, 22 miles in british section , 65 miles chinese section. however, english earn 65% of income while china earn 35% of it. construction started in 1906. difficult section approx. 7200 feet long beacon hill tunnel, , hundred workers died in construction.

construction

the construction done chinese. government built camps in kowloon support construction. of railway flat land, construction relatively easy in places. however, construction of beacon hill tunnel involved digging , blasting, , rocks made construction difficult. 2 ends of soft soil, centre granite. caused huge delay in construction not suitable use explosives @ 2 ends while explosives not blast off lot of rock in centre.

pre-electrification era
opening of british section

the railway line chinese border, called kowloon-canton railway (british section), opened passenger services on 1 october 1910. remaining section lo wu canton (now guangzhou) called chinese section (now guangzhou-shenzhen railway). initially, service provided yau ma tei station fanling station tunnel through beacon hill.

opening of chinese sector

after chinese section completed, through train service became available canton, through sham chun (now shenzhen). lo wu station serves border crossing, bridge across sham chun river, natural border between hong kong , mainland china. trains had stop @ lo wu station after communist china closed border , suspended through train service in 1949.

the line single track, passing loop @ each station.

closing of sha tau kok branch

the line built narrow gauge tracks, before opening standard gauge track laid , original tracks used build branch line, sha tau kok railway fanling sha tau kok. branch unsuccessful , closed on 1 april 1928 following opening of road ran parallel tracks.

post-1930s

through years, more stations added line. sheung shui station opened in 1930s, , ma liu shui (now university) station opened in 1955.

the kcr engines powered steam engines before 1950s. there 20 engines. however, diesel engines purchased starting 1950, first 1 number 51. steam engines disappeared kcr.

change of terminus

the development of towns along line began grow immensely during 1970s, prompting modernisation of kowloon-canton railway. original kowloon station terminus @ tsim sha tsui small , had no room expansion, new terminus site chosen in hung hom, known kowloon station. new kowloon station replaced old 1 in 1975. today, clock tower structure left old terminus, , landmark near cultural centre, space museum , star ferry pier. 6 pillars relocated urban council centenary garden in tsim sha tsui east. big bell stored @ ho tung lau. original hung hom station @ chatham road south demolished.

1980s modernisation

in 1975, kcr asked 2 consultancies, transmark , sofrerail, make proposals on modernisation of line. in 1979, transmark s proposal double-track , electrify entire line $2.5 billion (in 1979 prices) accepted government. work involved building new tunnel through beacon hill existing tunnel not wide enough accommodate 2 tracks. new stations added, including kowloon tong station, completed in 1982 provide interchange new mtr network. tai po kau station , original tai po market station closed, latter being redeveloped hong kong railway museum. development finished in sections between 1982 , 1983, new electric multiple units, manufactured metro cammell, replacing diesel locomotives.

with modernisation of railway , concurrent urbanisation of new territories, ridership rose quickly, daily average of 190,000 in 1983 491,000 in 1990. temporary station in tai wai opened in 1983 while permanent tai wai station completed in 1986. fo tan station opened in 1985 serve expanding industrial estate. tai wo station opened in 1989 serve tai wo estate.

the 1990s saw more rapid development , changes within railway. kcrc signed contract anglo-french manufacturing giant gec-alsthom refurbish metro cammell emus @ east rail depot @ ho tung lau. in 1996, first refurbished train put service, , trains allow passengers traverse 1 end (except first class carriage), when trains once ran on 4 three-car emus. 348 of 351 railcars refurbished except unit e44 (144-244-444), stored in ho tung lau depot. each trainset still made of 12 cars (with 1 first-class car). prior rule proclaimed in 1994 fixed number of cars on each trainset 12, trains inconsistent in terms of length, ranging 6 cars (two emus), 9 cars (three emus) 12 cars (four emus).

in terms of appearance, trains no longer have monotonous design of having red stripe running across middle cab end; doors have red coating, , window panes along upper part fashioned blue paint. original design of train front, encapsulating driver s cab , commonly referred yellow-cab , replaced more modern design capped silver coating, , digital display added providing train s destination.

the design of emu modified well: 4 more sets of doors being added each car, adding total of ten sets of doors, each side five; introduction of new passenger information plasma display; , more standing space rearranging seating patterns traditional back-to-back seating longitudinal design.

in 1998, new signalling system, known transmission balise-locomotive (tbl, used in belgium), came operation on line. automatic train protection (atp) system, replacement previous automatic warning system (aws) developed in britain, ensures safe distance maintained between trains. allowed increase in train frequencies 20 24 per hour each way. control centre relocated kowloon station new facility in kcrc operations headquarters building @ fo tan railway house. part of atp project, 2 kilometre section of tracks near pak shek kok reclamation, curving around former coastline, straightened out during mid-1990s. tracks run alongside tolo highway. vestige of former alignment, old bridge beside cheung shue tan village built between 1906 , 1909, identified antiquities , monuments office in 2008 historic asset.

in 2002 automatic train operation (ato) system added tbl, controls speed of train driver , ensures trains stop when arriving @ every station. under normal circumstances, trains operated in ato mode except scenarios such operation of trains in , out of train depots, driver training, or @ times when ato system fails function properly. however, intercity trains using east rail line continue operate on aws.

recent developments

in 2004, railway extended in tunnel new southern terminus @ east tsim sha tsui station.
on 28 december 2004 branch east rail, ma on shan rail added, interchange @ tai wai.
on 15 august 2007, extension sheung shui station northwest through tunnel lok ma chau station opened. provides second border crossing between hong kong sar , mainland china.
on 16 august 2009, hung hom became southern terminus of both east rail line , west rail line after completion of kowloon southern link. east tsim sha tsui southern terminus on east rail line, , current intermediate station on west rail line.

tunnels

tunnels on east rail line have numbers assigned them. when railway first opened, there 5 tunnels:

during construction of cross harbour tunnel, opened in 1972, section of tracks near oi man estate, ho man tin covered construct section of princess margaret road connecting cross harbour tunnel. new tunnel therefore created , given number 1a.

during modernisation of line in 1980s, tunnels 1, 3, 4 removed demolishing mounds above them. tunnel 1a had double track width when built; new beacon hill tunnel (tunnel 2) constructed , took on original one; , tunnel 5 doubled. new 1 known tunnel 5a.