Shatin to Central Link (SCL) comprises Tai Wai to Hung Hom Section and Hung Hom to Admiralty Section. Provided to China Daily

A direct corridor will carry passengers from Lo Wu to Hong Kong island within 50 mins

Traveling time from Tai Wai to Admiralty will be cut nearly in half from 30 to 17 minutes when the MTR Shatin to Central Link (SCL) goes into operation in 2020. There will be no need to switch trains along the way.

The design details for the line were revealed by MTR Corporation Limited on Tuesday.

"Citizens in the Northeast New Territories will benefit a lot from the new track as they will have a much wider range of choices when heading to Hong Kong Island," said Clement Ngai, a design manager of SCL.

The so-called Shatin to Central Link actually will end at Admiralty. The new railway will be built from Hung Hom, extending the current East Rail Line across the harbor to form a fourth rail harbor crossing.

Exhibition Station in Wan Chai will be the first stop for the SCL on Hong Kong Island. Once completed in 2020, the line is expected to form a direct north-to-south corridor capable of carrying cross-border passengers from Lo Wu directly to Hong Kong Island within 50 minutes, said Ngai.

"This (building the new cross-harbor rail) is a challenging project as it involves a lot of interfaces with the existing railway lines," he said.

New track will be laid from the south of Mong Kok Station, running parallel to the eastern side of the existing East Rail Line. There will be a new platform under the current Hung Hom Station, Ngai said.

The construction of the new track is expected to create an additional burden for the already heavily-congested streets of Hung Hom. Some roads will be required to be rerouted during construction, including Chatham Road North, where the track goes underground.

Li Lin, a member of the Kowloon City District Council and chairman of Traffic and its Transport Committee, told China Daily that the route changes in Chatham Road North will cause inconvenience to local residents.

"We welcome SCL, meanwhile we also understand that we have to bear the inconvenience caused during construction," said Li. She estimated that the traffic congestion would continue until 2015.

MTR responded that road changing will be conducted under a one-for-one principle and that MTR will build a temporary road before blocking an existing way, making sure local traffic system will not be affected severely.

The current Wan Chai Sports Ground and its swimming pool will be moved entirely to a car park nearby to make way for the new entrance for Exhibition Station.

The cost of the SCL is estimated at over HK$60 billion. The other section of the 17-kilometer-long SCL, Tai Wai to Hung Hom Section, is expected to be completed in 2018.

China Daily

(HK Edition 01/05/2011 page1)