Road Network

Hong Kong has 1 955 kilometres of roads and 1 129 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:

Tunnels

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 Cross-Harbour Tunnel, which was opened in 1972, was handed back to the Government on August 31, 1999, when the franchise ended.

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. Use of the Kai Tak Tunnel and Cheung Tsing Tunnel is free of charge. As for the others, tolls are set and monitored by the Government.

In addition, there is a private tunnel named Discovery Bay Tunnel Link, which is built, operated and maintained by Discovery Bay Road Tunnel Company Limited. The tunnel is only open to vehicles providing goods or services to Discovery Bay residents.

Rail Network

Railways form a vital part of the transport network of Hong Kong and are essential for continuous economic, social and land development. 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 its public transport system, the rail systems are being extended to various parts of Hong Kong. The map below shows the coverage of the existing railway network in Hong Kong as well as two new railway lines now under construction.

Railway Projects

The East Rail extensions, which involve three rail projects, 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 connects the MTR Tsim Sha Tsui Station with a new KCR East Tsim Sha Tsui Station via an extended subway system enabling passengers to interchange between lines. The second extension, the 11.4-kilometre Ma On Shan Rail, serves the Sha Tin and Ma On Shan areas and has 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 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 2007.

The 3.5-kilometre Disneyland Resort Line operates 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 was opened in August to serve Hong Kong Disneyland.

The 3.8-kilometre Kowloon Southern Link now under construction will connect East Rail and West Rail at the southern tip of the Kowloon Peninsula. On completion, passengers will be able to switch from East Rail to West Rail and vice versa at Hung Hom.

Railway Projects at the Planning Stage

The Northern Link will connect West Rail at Kam Sheung Road to the boundary crossing point at Lok Ma Chau and, in conjunction with the Spur Line, will form a strategic corridor connecting West Rail and East Rail. The Express Rail Link will provide an express rail service to link up the urban area with the boundary. The link is expected to reduce the journey time by rail between Guangzhou and Hong Kong from the existing 100 minutes to about an hour. It will link Hong Kong with Beijing and other major Mainland cities via the Beijing-Guangzhou Passenger Line and Hangzhou-Fuzhou-Shenzhen Passenger Line, two new lines planned for the future. It will also connect Hong Kong to cities in the Pearl River Delta and Pan-Pearl River Delta via the Rapid Transit System now under development on the Mainland. The Mainland section of the Express Rail Link opened on December 18. The KCRC submitted a feasibility report on the Hong Kong section of the link to the Government in July.

The West Island Line will be an extension of the existing MTR Island Line from Sheung Wan to Kennedy Town with two intermediate stations at Sai Ying Pun and University. The latest proposed scheme of the South Island Line consists of two medium-capacity rail lines, one from University to Wong Chuk Hang with intermediate stations at Cyberport, Wah Fu and Aberdeen, and the other from Admiralty to South Horizons with intermediate stations at Ocean Park, Wong Chuk Hang and Lei Tung.

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. The latest proposal for the project is to divide the railway into two sections, the East West Line connecting Tai Wai with Hung Hom joining 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.

Road Projects under Construction

Major road projects under construction include:

Road Projects at the Planning Stage

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

Road Opening Works

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 works. In order to regulate such activities, any excavation work on carriageways and footpaths maintained by the Highways Department needs an excavation permit. In 2005, the department issued about 40 000 excavation permits.

The Highways Department has established a three-tier communication system with management and staff of utility companies to coordinate and minimise traffic disruption arising from excavation works.

The Land (Miscellaneous Provision) Ordinance was amended in 2004 to strengthen controls over excavation works and minimise delays and inconvenience to the public. It 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, it can charge an extra fee to cover the economic cost of any delay affecting the carriageway without an acceptable reason. The extra fees for delays on strategic streets, sensitive streets and other streets, are $18,000, $7,000 and $1,500 per day respectively. With this system, all excavation works promoters are encouraged to carry out better planning and complete work on public roads on time.

The Highways Department has a dedicated audit inspection team which ensures that excavation works are properly carried out and an enforcement team to collect evidence and initiate prosecution when the ordinance is violated.

Tsing Ma Control Area

The Tsing Ma Control Area, 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 control area 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 52 000 vehicles used the Lantau Link in 2005.