The Tung Chung line is one of the ten lines of the MTR system in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, linking the town of

Tung Chung Tung Chung, meaning " eastern stream", is an area on the northwestern coast of Lantau Island, Hong Kong. One of the most recent new towns, it was formerly a rural fishing village beside Tung Chung Bay, and along the delta and lower courses of ...

with central

. A part of the Tung Chung line was built along with the

Kap Shui Mun Bridge The Kap Shui Mun Bridge (KSMB) in Hong Kong, part of Lantau Link of Route 8, is one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world that transports both road and railway traffic, with the upper deck used for motor vehicles and the lower deck u ...

and the

Tsing Ma Bridge Tsing Ma Bridge is a bridge in Hong Kong. It is the world's 16th-longest span suspension bridge, and was the second longest at time of completion. The bridge was named after the two islands it connects, namely Tsing Yi and Ma Wan. It has tw ...

. The line currently travels through eight stations in 31 minutes along its route. The line is coloured orange on the map.

History

In October 1989, the

Hong Kong government The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government, refers to the Executive (government), executive authorities of Hong Kong Special administrative regions of China, ...

announced

plans A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with details of timing and resources, used to achieve an objective to do something. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions through which one expects to achieve a goal. ...

to build a new

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

on the remote island of

Chek Lap Kok Chek Lap Kok is an island in the western waters of Hong Kong's New Territories. Unlike the smaller Lam Chau, it was only partially leveled when it was assimilated via land reclamation into the island for the current Hong Kong International ...

to replace the overcrowded

Kai Tak International Airport Kai Tak Airport was the international airport of Hong Kong from 1925 until 1998. Officially known as Hong Kong International Airport from 1954 to 6 July 1998, it is often referred to as Hong Kong International Airport, Kai Tak, or simply Ka ...

at the heart of Kowloon. As part of the initiative, the government invited the MTR Corporation to build a rail link to the new airport dubbed the Lantau Airport Railway. The project initially saw opposition from the Chinese government as it feared the construction would drain the monetary reserve of the Hong Kong government and leave the Chinese with nothing after the British handed the territory over in 1997. Both the Chinese and British governments reached an agreement and construction commenced in November 1994. The Lantau Airport rail link consists of two train lines, the Tung Chung line and the

Airport Express The AirPort Express is a Wi-Fi base station product from Apple Inc., part of the AirPort product line. While more compact and in some ways simpler than another Apple Wi-Fi base station, the AirPort Extreme, the Express offers audio output cap ...

. Both lines deploy the same

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can b ...

with minor differences in interior fittings and liveries. On 21 June 1998, the Tung Chung line was officially opened by

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Tung Chee-hwa Tung Chee-hwa (; born 7 July 1937) is a Hong Kong businessman and politician who served as the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong between 1997 and 2005, upon the transfer of sovereignty on 1 July. He is currently a vice-chairman of the Chin ...

, and service commenced the next day. On 16 December 2003, an open house for charity took place at the recently completed

Nam Cheong station Nam Cheong is a MTR interchange station located at ground level beneath West Kowloon Highway, in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong opposite the Fu Cheong Estate. It is served by the Tung Chung and Tuen Ma lines and provides cross-platform intercha ...

, an interchange between the Tung Chung line and soon to be opened

West Rail line The West Rail line () was a rapid transit line that formed part of the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system in Hong Kong until 27 June 2021. Coloured magenta on the MTR map, the line ran from Tuen Mun to Hung Hom, with a total length of , i ...

. The station then closed on 19 December 2003 in preparation for the opening of the new West Rail line, and it was officially opened to public on 20 December 2003. Since then, the number of cars per train has increased from seven to eight to accommodate the additional patronage.

Sunny Bay station Sunny Bay () is an MTR station in Yam O. It is between and stations. The station is an interchange station between the and the to Hong Kong Disneyland. The station was originally to be named ''Yam O'' (). ''Yam O'' was not used probably b ...

opened on 1 June 2005 as an interchange for the Disneyland Resort line. The resort opened its door two months after the station became operational. Between 2006 and 2007, four new

trains In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often know ...

entered service to improve service frequency. The first train was delivered on 9 February 2006 and entered service on 12 June 2006. Modifications were added to the platforms to accommodate the new trains, which are a few millimetres wider than the original rolling stock.

Route map

Route description

Unlike most other railway lines in the system, the Tung Chung line travels mostly above ground and spans a greater distance. The line shares its trackage with the

before diverging in Tung Chung. The line travels underground from

Hong Kong station Hong Kong () is a station of the MTR metro system in Hong Kong. It is the eastern terminus of the and . It is situated between Man Cheung Street and Harbour View Street, Central, Hong Kong Island, and sits underneath the International Financ ...

to Kowloon station across the harbour, then surfaces to the ground to reach

Olympic station Olympic is a List of MTR stations, station on the of Hong Kong's MTR. The livery is dodger blue. The station was originally named Tai Kok Tsui in proposals outlined by Government of Hong Kong, the government in the Airport Core Programme dur ...

. Trains continue to travel above ground along the West Kowloon Expressway and stops at

, followed by

Lai King station Lai King is an MTR rapid transit station in the suburb of Lai King in the Kwai Tsing District. The station is located above ground on a viaduct and is an interchange for the Tsuen Wan and Tung Chung lines. The Chinese name of the station u ...

on a viaduct. Thereafter the line crosses the

Rambler Channel Rambler Channel is a body of water in Hong Kong that separates Tsing Yi Island from Tsuen Wan and Kwai Chung in the New Territories. The channel separates the two landmasses by 900 metres at its widest point. Historically, the channel was known ...

and stops at

Tsing Yi station Tsing Yi is an interchange station of the MTR between the Tung Chung line and Airport Express on Tsing Yi Island in Hong Kong. The station is located between Sunny Bay station and Lai King station on the Tung Chung Line, and between Airp ...

Tsing Yi Island Tsing Yi, sometimes referred to as Tsing Yi Island, is an island in the urban area of Hong Kong, to the northwest of Hong Kong Island and south of Tsuen Wan. With an area of , the island has extended drastically by reclamation along almost all ...

. Trains then enter a tunnel through the hills of the island and continues on the

and the

onto

Lantau Island Lantau Island (also Lantao Island, Lan Tao) is the largest island in Hong Kong, located West of Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, and is part of the New Territories. Administratively, most of Lantau Island is part of the Islands ...

. The line continues along the North Lantau Expressway and stops at Sunny Bay before terminating at Tung Chung. The distance between the two stops is roughly 10 km and takes approximately 6 minutes to complete. Some outbound trains do not continue to Lantau but terminate at Tsing Yi station due to the capacity constraint of the Tsing Ma Bridge which only allows a maximum of one train per track at all times. File:MTR-TungChung-Train.JPG, A Tung Chung line A-train at

as viewed from the footbridge File:V813 entering Sunny Bay Station (20181013082946).jpg, A Tung Chung line K-train approaching

, bound for

File:MTR TUC (13).JPG, Exterior of

Tung Chung station Tung Chung () is a station on the of the MTR rapid transport system in Hong Kong. As the western end of the Tung Chung line, it is also a transfer point of those wishing to use the Ngong Ping Cable Car and by bus to the rest of Lantau Island. ...

File:Lai King Station 2015 part1.jpg, Upper platform level of

File:Nam Cheong Station 2008.jpg,

; interchange with

Tuen Ma Line The Tuen Ma line () is a rapid transit line that forms part of the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system in Hong Kong. Coloured brown on the map, the Tuen Ma line is in length, making it the longest line of the MTR network. It has a total of ...

File:HK MTR Olympic Station Concourse.jpg,

concourse File:HKMTR KOW Elevator 20070922.jpg, Kowloon station, Tung Chung line platform File:HongKongStationplatform1 20070922.jpg,

, Tung Chung line platform

Stations

This is a list of the stations on the Tung Chung line. List

Design limitations

When

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the Briti ...

was planning to build the Airport Railway (Tung Chung line and Airport Express) in the 1990s, which was a few years before the handover to China, the Chinese government raised concerns about the effect of the project on the territory's fiscal reserves, which eventually forced the Hong Kong government to reduce the cost of the Airport Railway. The resulting changes made to the design imposed limitations on the level of service on the line. * The airport rail link was originally designed to accommodate four tracks, two each for the Airport Express and Tung Chung line. It was later reduced to two tracks where both services share the same trackage. As a result, signal failures can affect both services. * The

Lantau Link The Lantau Link, formerly known as the Lantau Fixed Crossing, is a roadway in Hong Kong forming part of Route 8 linking Lantau Island to Tsing Yi, from which other roads lead to the urban areas of Kowloon and the rest of the New Territories ...

section of the line (consisting of the

, Ma Wan Viaduct, and

) only allows one train to pass through each direction at the same time, raising the minimum

headway Headway is the distance or duration between vehicles in a transit system measured in space or time. The ''minimum headway'' is the shortest such distance or time achievable by a system without a reduction in the speed of vehicles. The precise defi ...

between trains to 2 minutes 15 seconds. As a result, some Tung Chung line trains terminate at Tsing Yi during peak hours, instead of travelling the entire line. * The signalling system is not capable of giving priority to Airport Express trains; as a result, Tung Chung line trains stopping at

frequently impede Airport Express trains, which do not serve the station. Tung Chung Line trains would sometimes stop at Sunny Bay Station for an extended period of time to give way to the Airport Express trains. * The power supply system restricts the number of trains running between Kowloon and Lai King stations. The system can accommodate a maximum of one Airport Express train and two Tung Chung trains travelling in both directions at one time. The minimum headway on this section of the line is 3 minutes 30 seconds.

Future development

Extensions on Hong Kong Island

Track extension near Hong Kong station

An underground tunnel, around half a km long, will be built eastwards of

to allow Tung Chung Line and

trains to turn around, allowing the trains to easily switch directions, thus enhancing the efficiency of operations.

North Island line

Once the North Island line is complete, trains will travel in a tunnel east of Hong Kong station along the shore of the island before merging into the

Tseung Kwan O line The Tseung Kwan O line is one of the eleven lines of the MTR system in Hong Kong, indicated by the colour purple. It is currently long, taking 15 minutes to travel throughout the entire line. The line runs from North Point on the Hong Kong I ...

North Point North Point is a mixed-use urban area in the Eastern District, Hong Kong, Eastern District of Hong Kong. Located in the northeastern part of Hong Kong Island, the area is named after a cape between Tin Hau, Hong Kong, Causeway Bay and Tsat Ts ...

. Three new stations - Tamar,

Exhibition Centre A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

and Causeway Bay North will form part of the extension.

Extension in Tung Chung

In the Railway Development Strategy 2014, it was proposed that the Tung Chung Line be extended west and a new station at Tung Chung West. In April 2020,

Carrie Lam Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor ( Cheng; ; born 13 May 1957) is a retired Hong Kong politician who served as the 4th Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022. She served as Chief Secretary for Administration between 2012 and 2017 and Sec ...

and the Executive Council approved the detailed planning and design of the Tung Chung line extension project. It is scheduled to begin construction in 2023, while the cost of the two new stations, Tung Chung East and Tung Chung West, are expected to cost HK$18.7 billion. This extension is expected to be complete by 2029. The project is expected to extend the line an additional 1.5 kilometers. The design contract for the extension was recently awarded to British engineering companies Arup and Atkins.

References

{{Crossings navbox , structure = Tunnel crossings , place =

Victoria Harbour Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on South China Sea were instrumental i ...

, bridge = Tung Chung line and

between Kowloon and

, upstream =

Western Harbour Crossing The Western Harbour Crossing (WHC) is a dual 3-lane immersed tube tunnel in Hong Kong. It is the third road tunnel to cross Victoria Harbour, linking the newly reclaimed land in Yau Ma Tei on Kowloon West with Sai Ying Pun on Hong Kong Isl ...

, upstream text = West , downstream =

Tsuen Wan line The Tsuen Wan line is one of the eleven lines of the metro network in Hong Kong's MTR. It is indicated in red on the MTR map. There are 16 stations on the line. The southern terminus is Central station on Hong Kong Island and the nor ...

between

Tsim Sha Tsui Tsim Sha Tsui, often abbreviated as TST, is an list of areas of Hong Kong, urban area in southern Kowloon, Hong Kong. The area is administratively part of the Yau Tsim Mong District. Tsim Sha Tsui East is a piece of land reclaimed from the Hu ...

and

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

, downstream text = East MTR lines Railway lines opened in 1998 Regional rail in Hong Kong 1432 mm gauge railways in Hong Kong