Beacon Hill Tunnel

Beacon Hill Tunnel (zh-tspcy|t=筆架山隧道|s=笔架山隧道|p=Bìjiàshān Suìdào|cy=bat1 ga2 saan1 seui6 dou6) is a tunnel in Hong Kong, China on the original Kowloon-Canton Railway from Kowloon to Canton, linking Kowloon Tong to its south and Sha Tin to its north, between Kowloon Tong and Tai Wai stations. Services through the tunnel are provided by MTR.

History

A team of surveyors were commissioned to survey the route for the KCR British Section in 1905. Two routes have been proposed:
#Construction of a tunnel 1.5mi (2.4km) long through Beacon Hill then following the west coast of Tolo Harbour
#Routing through Western New Territories and Castle Peak BayAlthough option 2 is less technically challenging, the route is too long and goes through less economically active areas; therefore option 1 was selected. Works on the km to mi|35.4 railway to the boarder started early 1906. Construction of the tunnel, referred to as Tunnel No.2 in the plan since it was the second tunnel starting from Kowloon, was the greatest engineering project in Asia of its time.

The tunnel opened with rest of the line in October 1910, together with four smaller tunnels. It accommodated a single standard track with a standard gauge of RailGauge|sg. It has, however, been notorious for its fume problems throughout its operating life; due to its steep gradient of 1%.

A double tracked, electrified tunnel was built to the immediate west of the original one as part of a modernisation plan starting in 1978, now used by the East Rail Line. The original tunnel was closed upon completion of the new tunnel. It is now occupied by town gas facilities.

References

*cite book|last=Phillips|first=Robert J.|title=Kowloon-Canton railway (British section) : a history|publisher=Urban Council|date=1990