Tsuen Wan line immersed tube

The Tsuen Wan line of Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system includes a 1.4-kilometre (1,500 yd) dual-tracked, reinforced concrete, immersed tube railway tunnel across Victoria Harbour, connecting Hong Kong Island to Kowloon.

Tsuen Wan line immersed tube
Plaque commemorating the February 1980 opening of the full Modified Initial System
Overview
Coordinates22.2878°N 114.1721°E / 22.2878; 114.1721
StatusActive
SystemTsuen Wan line (MTR)
CrossesVictoria Harbour
StartTsim Sha Tsui
EndAdmiralty
Operation
ConstructedKumagai Gumi
Opened12 February 1980 (1980-02-12)
OwnerMTR Corporation
OperatorMTR Corporation
TrafficRail
Technical
Design engineerPer Hall Consultants
Length1.4 km
No. of tracksDouble
Track gauge1,432 mm (4 ft 8+3⁄8 in)
Electrified1.5 kV DC

History

First proposed as early as 1967[1] in a study commissioned by the Hong Kong government in 1966,[2] it was the first railway tunnel to cross the Victoria Harbour and also the first subsea railway tunnel in the territory. It was the second fixed crossing to cross the harbour, after the vehicular Cross Harbour Tunnel opened in 1972. The stations at the south and north ends of the tunnel are, respectively, Admiralty and Tsim Sha Tsui.

Its construction by Kumagai Gumi commenced in 1976.[3] The 14 tunnel segments, each 100 metres long, were cast in a basin in Chai Wan.[4][5][3] The tunnel was designed by Per Hall Consultants under the supervision of Freeman Fox and Partners.[3][4] A specially designed barge, constructed for Kumagai Gumi by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, arrived in Hong Kong in February 1977 to help form the seabed alignment and thereafter lay the tunnel segments into place.[6]

The structural completion of the tunnel was marked on 26 March 1979 by a celebratory walk-through and breaking-open of a barrel of sake.[7]

Upon its opening in 1980, the tunnel was part of the Modified Initial System of the territory's MTR. The full Modified Initial System was opened on 12 February 1980 by Princess Alexandra. She also rode the inaugural train through the immersed tube beneath Victoria Harbour to Chater station, which was renamed Central station in 1985.[8] In 1982 the tunnel became part of the network's Tsuen Wan line.

See also

References
  1. Freeman, Fox, Wilbur Smith & Associates (1967). Hong Kong Mass Transport Study (Report).{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. Rail Mass Transit for Developing Countries: Proceedings of the Conference Organised by the Institution of Civil Engineers, and Held in London on 9–10 October 1989 Archived 5 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Thomas Telford, 1990, p. 141
  3. "Work starts on MTR tunnel". South China Morning Post. 9 September 1976. p. 6.
  4. Choi, Barry (26 January 1977). "Tubes for MTR's harbour tunnel". South China Morning Post. p. 8.
  5. Morris, Martin; Yang, Morgan W. W.; Tsang, Chor Kin; Hu, Alan Y. M.; Shut, Dunson S.C. (November 2016). "An overview of subsea tunnel engineering in Hong Kong". Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. 169 (6): 9–15. doi:10.1680/jcien.15.00073. ISSN 0965-089X.
  6. "MTR barge arrives". South China Morning Post. 24 February 1977. p. 1.
  7. "Sake toasts tube tunnel". South China Morning Post. 27 March 1979. p. 1.
  8. Annual Report 1979. Hong Kong: Mass Transit Railway Corporation. 1980.
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