Island_Line,_Hong_Kong Island_Line,_Hong_Kong

Island Line, Hong Kong - Definition and Overview

Related Words: Airfield, Airport, Archipelago, Atoll, Bar, Cay, Field, Heliport
Causeway Bay MTR station on the Island Line.

The Island Line is one of the six lines of the MTR metro system in Hong Kong. It runs from Sheung Wan in Central and Western to Chai Wan in Eastern District.

The line is indicated with the colour blue.

Contents

History

Admiralty station

The Hong Kong Government authorised the construction of the 12.5 kilometre long Island Line in December 1980, after rejecting plans to extend the tram to Chai Wan. On 31 May 1985 the Island Line opened with service between Admiralty and Chai Wan stations. Both Admiralty and Central stations became interchange stations with the Tsuen Wan Line. Furthermore, each train was extended to eight cars. On 23 May of 1986, service reached Sheung Wan station.

After the Kwun Tong Line was extended to Quarry Bay station on 1 October 1989, the station became an interchange station with the Island Line. In a response to congestion at Quarry Bay station due to the popular interchange located there, the government recommended the "Quarry Bay Congestion Relief Works" project, and decided to expand North Point station to include a second interchange with the Kwun Tong Line, starting construction in September 1997.

The North Point interchange opened on 27 September 2001, and proved to be a much more efficient method of interchanging, as the new station featured cross-platform interchange, reducing the time required to interchange from four minutes at Quarry Bay station to less than one minute.

On 4 August 2002, North Point and Quarry Bay became interchange stations with the new Tseung Kwan O Line.

For the future, extensions were considered towards Kennedy Town, but never came into fruition as the plan required land reclamation on the western coast of Hong Kong Island, which was scrapped due to cost. However, the current plan for the new lines to Southern District would require parts of the Western extension in order for it to be completed.

If the "North Island Line" is built along the current coast of the Island, the Island Line would be divided by the Tseung Kwan O Line and Tung Chung Line, with the former running to Sheung Wan and the latter to Chai Wan.

Route features

The Island Line is the MTR line most like the London Tube as the underground stations are usually very deep in the ground because the land available for construction was extremely small and the construction plans for the line required it to be built under major roads. Only the segment of the line east of Shau Kei Wan has space for track development and thus the line emerges to the surface at Heng Fa Chuen, and then on viaduct all the way to Chai Wan.

Stations

The stations of the line are:

</table> Full list of MTR stations

See also


NameDistrictConnections
Island Line
Sheung Wan Central and Western
Central
Formerly Chater
Central and Western Tsuen Wan Line, Airport Express and Tung Chung Line via Hong Kong station
Admiralty Central and Western Tsuen Wan
Wan Chai Wan Chai South Island Line
Causeway Bay Wan Chai
Tin Hau Eastern Tseung Kwan O Line
Fortress Hill Eastern Tung Chung Line
North Point Eastern Tseung Kwan O Line
Quarry Bay Eastern Tseung Kwan O Line
Tai Koo Eastern
Sai Wan Ho Eastern
Shau Kei Wan Eastern
Heung Fa Chuen Eastern
Chai Wan Eastern
Hong Kong MTR Lines
MTR-Corporation-logo.png
MTR Logo

Kwun Tong Line | Tsuen Wan Line | Island Line | Tseung Kwan O Line | Tung Chung Line | Airport Express
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