HONG KONG 2004 - Transport

Hong Kong has 1 943 kilometres of roads and 1 087 road structures, three immersed-tube cross-harbour tunnels, nine road tunnels and three major bridges. These facilities provide a comprehensive road network for Hong Kong.

Major projects completed during the year included:

The Cross-Harbour Tunnel, Eastern Harbour Crossing, Tate's Cairn Tunnel, Western Harbour Crossing and Tai Lam Tunnel were built by the private sector under 'Build, Operate and Transfer' franchises.

The 1.9-kilometre Cross-Harbour Tunnel connects Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island and Hung Hom in Kowloon. The franchise for the tunnel, which was opened in 1972, ended on August 31, 1999, and the facility was handed back to the Government. With a daily patronage of 121 700 vehicles, it is one of the world's busiest four-lane road tunnels. The tolls ranged from $8 to $30 for different types of vehicles.

The two-kilometre Eastern Harbour Crossing was opened in 1989. It links Quarry Bay on Hong Kong Island and Cha Kwo Ling in Kowloon. A daily average of 73 500 vehicles used the tunnel. Tolls ranged from $8 to $45.

The two-kilometre Western Harbour Crossing is the first six-lane cross-harbour road tunnel in Hong Kong. Opened in 1997, it links Sai Ying Pun on Hong Kong Island and the West Kowloon Reclamation near Yau Ma Tei in Kowloon. It was used by an average of 39 200 vehicles daily. Statutory tolls ranged from $30 to $185. The tunnel company offers concessionary tolls and the actual tolls ranged from $22 to $110.

The four-kilometre Tate's Cairn Tunnel, the longest road tunnel in Hong Kong, was opened in 1991, providing an additional direct road link between the north-eastern New Territories and Kowloon. It was used by an average of 61 100 vehicles daily. Tolls ranged from $10 to $20.

The 3.8-kilometre Tai Lam Tunnel and the 6.3-kilometre Yuen Long Approach Road form Route 3 (Country Park section), which extends from Ting Kau to Au Tau. Opened in May 1998, it was used by an average of 45 400 vehicles daily. Statutory tolls ranged from $20 to $90. The tunnel company offers concessionary tolls and the actual tolls ranged from $17 to $75.

The 2.4-kilometre Discovery Bay Tunnel Link, which comprises a 630-metre single tube two-way tunnel and a 1 770-metre approach road, is operated and maintained by the Discovery Bay Road Tunnel Company Limited, which also built it. It extends from Discovery Bay through Yi Pak Au to Cheung Tung Road. The tunnel link is only open to vehicles providing goods or services to Discovery Bay residents. Opened in May 2000, the tunnel link was used by an average of 800 vehicles daily. It has a one-way toll collection arrangement. Vehicles are charged a single journey toll when they enter Discovery Bay. The tolls ranged from $50 to $250.

The Government owns seven of the road tunnels (Lion Rock, Aberdeen, Airport, Shing Mun, Tseung Kwan O, Cheung Tsing and Cross-Harbour), which are managed and operated by private companies under management contracts. Tolls are set and monitored by the Government. Use of the Airport Tunnel and Cheung Tsing Tunnel is free of charge.

Railways form a vital part of the transport network of Hong Kong and are essential for continuous economic, social and land development. The existing rail network in Hong Kong comprises a heavily utilised urban railway (the MTR); a busy railway from Kowloon to the boundary at Lo Wu (East Rail), which was extended from Hung Hom to East Tsim Sha Tsui and from Tai Wai to Wu Kai Sha in 2004; a railway connecting northwest New Territories with Kowloon (West Rail); a modern light rail Network serving Tuen Mun and Yuen Long including the Tin Shui Wai new town (Light Rail Transit); and a dedicated premium class railway to Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok (Airport Express Line). There is also a traditional street tramway and a funicular tramway to the Peak on Hong Kong Island. East Rail, West Rail and Light Rail are operated by the KCRC which is a public corporation wholly owned by the Government. The MTR and the Airport Express Line are operated by MTRCL, a listed company with the Government as the major shareholder. The Tramway and the Peak Tram are owned by private operators.

The railways in Hong Kong accounted for about 30 per cent of daily domestic passenger travel and about 70 per cent of land based cross-boundary trips to the Mainland. In line with the Government's transport policy to use rail as the backbone of our public transport system, the rail systems are being extended to various parts of Hong Kong.

Comprising three rail projects, the East Rail extensions expand the existing East Rail to reach East Tsim Sha Tsui, Ma On Shan and Lok Ma Chau. The 1.1-kilometre East Rail Tsim Sha Tsui Extension was opened on October 24. It connects the MTR Tsim Sha Tsui Station with a new KCR East Tsim Sha Tsui Station via an extended subway system to enable passenger interchange. The second extension, the 11.4-kilometre Ma On Shan Rail, was opened on December 21. It serves the Sha Tin and Ma On Shan areas with nine stations at Wu Kai Sha, Ma On Shan, Heng On, Tai Shui Hang, Shek Mun, City One, Sha Tin Wai, Che Kung Temple and Tai Wai, where passengers can interchange with East Rail. The third extension, the 7.4-kilometre Sheung Shui to Lok Ma Chau Spur Line, aims to provide a second rail link to the Mainland to relieve cross-boundary congestion at Lo Wu, which handles in excess of 85 million passengers. The Spur Line is under construction and is planned to start operation in mid-2007.

The 3.5-kilometre Disneyland Resort Line will operate initially as a single-track railway providing a shuttle service between a new MTR station at Hong Kong Disneyland and a new MTR station at Sunny Bay where passengers can interchange with the existing Tung Chung Line. The rail line is under construction and is planned to open in mid-2005 to tie in with the opening of the Disneyland theme park.

The 3.8-kilometre Kowloon Southern Link will connect East Rail and the West Rail at the southern tip of the Kowloon Peninsula. Upon completion, passengers will be able to travel through East Rail and West Rail via Hung Hom.

The Sha Tin to Central Link will form a new strategic rail corridor from Sha Tin to the Central Business District on Hong Kong Island via the proposed South East Kowloon Development area. The latest proposal for the project is to divide the railway into two sections, the East West Line connecting Tai Wai with Hung Hom to join the Kowloon Southern Link and West Rail; and the North South Line extending the existing East Rail to Central through the Fourth Rail Harbour Crossing. The detailed implementation programme will be subject to further study on feasibility and other reviews on planning development along the railway line.

The Northern Link will connect West Rail at Kam Sheung Road to East Rail at Kwu Tung and to the boundary crossing point at Lok Ma Chau. The Regional Express Line (REL) is envisaged to provide an express rail service to link up the urban area with the boundary. The REL will form the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (ERL), which is expected to reduce the journey time between Guangzhou and Hong Kong from the existing 100 minutes to about an hour and will have the opportunity for access to Beijing and other major Mainland cities via the future Beijing-Guangzhou Passenger Line. A joint investigative study is being conducted by the HKSAR Government and the Mainland authorities on the feasibility of the ERL. MTRCL and the KCRC had provided in their joint merger report an assessment on using West Rail and the Northern Link to form the Hong Kong section of the ERL, which they submitted to the Government for consideration in September. The KCRC is conducting a further study of this alignment of the Hong Kong section of the ERL in the context of its Northern Link study.

The latest scheme of the West Hong Kong Island Line/South Hong Kong Island Line project consists of a single track heavy rail extension of the existing Hong Kong Island Line from Sheung Wan to a new station at Sai Ying Pun together with two medium capacity rail lines, one from Sai Ying Pun to Wong Chuk Hang and the other from South Horizons to Admiralty with interchange at Wong Chuk Hang. Intermediate stations will be provided at University, Kennedy Town, Cyberport, Wah Fu, Aberdeen, Lei Tung and Ocean Park.

The Port Rail Line (PRL) involves a new freight rail connection from Lo Wu to a new terminal at Kwai Chung. PRL will allow freight from the deep hinterland of China (i.e. beyond Guangdong) to access the container ports at Kwai Chung. The viability of this line will hinge on the growth of rail-borne cross-boundary freight traffic.

Majar road projects being implemented include:

The new boundary bridge at the Sha Tau Kok crossing, which is a single two-lane bridge, will improve traffic flow. Works commenced in May for completion in January 2005.

A number of road construction/improvement projects are under planning to further expand and improve the existing road network:

Besides serving as carriageways for vehicles and pedestrians, roads also accommodate various utility services, such as water and gas mains, sewers and electricity and telephone cables. To cope with the increasing demand for utility services and maintenance work, utility companies often have to excavate the carriageways and footpaths to lay more pipes, cables and ducts, and to carry out repair work. In order to regulate such activities, any excavation work on carriageways and footpaths maintained by the Highways Department needs an excavation permit. In 2004, the Highways Department issued about 43 000 excavation permits.

To coordinate and monitor excavation works more effectively and to minimise traffic disruption, the Highways Department has established a three-tier communication system with participants ranging from high level management to working level staff of utility companies and relevant government departments. A computerised utility management system has been in use since 1997 to improve coordination and minimise inconvenience to road users.

In order to strengthen controls on excavation works and to minimise delays and inconvenience to the public, the Land (Miscellaneous Provision) Ordinance was amended by the Land (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Ordinance 2003, with effect from April 1, 2004. The amended Land (Miscellaneous Provision) Ordinance provides the Government with the legal framework to take enforcement action against violations of the ordinance and to charge for excavation permit fees. In addition, a daily economic cost is charged to permittees who cannot complete their excavations in carriageways within the permit period.

A dedicated audit inspection team has been established in the Highways Department to ensure that excavation works are properly carried out. An enforcement team has also been set up to collect evidence and initiate prosecution when the ordinance is violated.

To recover the administrative cost for issuing excavation permits and carrying out audit inspections, the Government charges fees according to the 'user-pays' principle. The issue fee for an excavation permit on public roads is $1,860 and a daily fee of $32 is charged to cover each day of the excavation. A further fee of $590 is charged for issuing an extension to the excavation permit.

For any delay without an acceptable reason, a daily economic cost is charged. For strategic streets, sensitive streets and other streets, the respective economic cost is $18,000, $7,000 and $1,500 per day of such extension. With the charging system, all excavation works promoters are encouraged to carry out better planning and to complete excavation works on public roads on time.

The Tsing Ma Control Area (TMCA), which was opened to traffic in May 1997, is a 21-kilometre expressway network comprising the Tsing Kwai Highway, Cheung Tsing Tunnel, Cheung Tsing Highway, North-West Tsing Yi Interchange, Tsing Yi North Coastal Road, Lantau Link, Ting Kau Bridge, part of the North Lantau Highway and Ma Wan Road. The TMCA is operated and maintained by a private management contractor.

The Lantau Link has a one-way toll collection arrangement. Vehicles travelling on the Lantau Link are charged twice the single journey toll when they return from Lantau Island or enter Ma Wan. The double toll ranges from $20 to $80 for different types of vehicles. A daily average of 48 000 vehicles used the Lantau Link in 2004.