Ma On Shan Line

The HK-MTR lines|Ma On Shan (formerly called Ma On Shan Rail, Chinese: 馬鞍山鐵路, abbreviated as 馬鐵) is a branch line of the HK-MTR lines|East Rail in Hong Kong. Originally, the railway was operated by Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC). It is now operated by MTR Corporation as one of the ten lines of the MTR, after the merger of operations on 2 December 2007.

The Ma On Shan Line is coloured brown on the MTR map.

Overview

The line starts at Tai Wai station in Tai Wai, Shatin and ends at Wu Kai Sha Station, Wu Kai Sha, totalling 11.4 km or 16 minutes' journey. It has nine stations, with a maintenance depot at Tai Wai. Construction began on 12 February 2001 and the line opened on 21 December 2004, six days earlier than the proposed opening date. Its interchange with the East Rail Line in Tai Wai does not have ticket gates in between, and a combined trip from either line to the other counts as one ride. It estimated the line handled 190,000 passengers in the first year of service.

Most of the line, including stations, was built elevated on reserved land (right-of-way) along the eastern side of Sha Tin and Ma On Shan (administratively within Sha Tin District.) Although currently the trains are only in 4-car configuration, most platforms have provision for 8-car trains for when patronage increases.

The fare for a trip on the line varies from HK$3.0 to HK$5.6 depending on the distance travelled. The fare from Ma On Shan to HK-MTR lines|East Rail stations in Kowloon varies from HK$4.9 to HK$10.4.

Over a thousand passengers went to Tai Wai to take the first train on the first day of service. However, just an hour after service commenced, one train suffered minor door defects, causing a three minute delay. After the opening of the Ma On Shan Line, the usage of buses and taxis in the area decreased by as much as 50%. It was reported that some bus routes operated by KMB saw a decrease of ridership by one-third just a few days after the railway opened.

Driving directionality

Road and rail traffic in Hong Kong move on the left, but Ma On Shan Line is an exception. This line is aligned to the east of East Rail Line, and the two southbound tracks are immediately next to each other at their connection in Tai Wai. This design is to speed up interchange to the East Rail Line to Kowloon during morning commute.

Rolling stock

Although Ma On Shan Rail is defined as a medium capacity system, KCRC has arranged 18 sets of Kinki Sharyo EMU SP1950 trains, built by Kinki Sharyo, running on the system in a 4-car configuration. The train is the same model (with different contract code, SP1900) as those serving on the high capacity HK-MTR lines|East Rail and HK-MTR lines|West Rail, which run a 12-car and a 7-car configuration respectively. This model has the maximum running speed of 130 km/h, but trains will only reach a maximum service speed of 100 km/h; travelling between Shek Mun Station and Tai Shui Hang Station, when it is on ground level between Tate's Cairn Highway. Tai Wai Depot maintains the trains served in this line.

Gallery

Stations

The stations of this line are as follows. All of them are in the Sha Tin District:

Future development

Since the early planning stages of the Ma On Shan Rail, the system has been designed to be capable of joining with either HK-MTR lines|East Rail or HK-MTR lines|West Rail. According to the latest modified proposal of the Sha Tin to Central Link, the Ma On Shan Line will be extended from Tai Wai Station to Hung Hom Station via East Kowloon. The extension will join West Rail Line at Hung Hom to the northwest New Territories via the Kowloon Southern Link.

References

External links

* [http://www.mtr.com.hk Official Website of the MTR]
* [http://www.mtr.com.hk/jplanner/eng/planner_index.php Official Website of MTR's rail services]