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  4. MTR Hung Hom Station, Hong Kong

MTR Hung Hom Station

We helped transformed the key interchange station in Hong Kong’s MTR network to accommodate its expansion plan and enhance the city’s connectivity.

Location

  • Hong Kong

Client

  • MTR Corporation Ltd

Located on the Kowloon peninsula, Hung Hom Station, previously expanded in 1998 with the new concourse designed by Foster and Partners, has been extensively modified to become a super interchange station – connecting people from east to west via the Tuen Ma Line and north to south via the East Rail Line extension to Hong Kong Island.

Before the operation of Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, Hung Hom Station was the only hub serving the intercity train to Guangzhou and other major cities in Guangdong Province as well as Beijing and Shanghai. It was also the terminal station of East Rail Line.

Hung Hom Station plays a significant role in the local rail network with the new Tuen Ma Line platforms commenced service in 2021, connecting two separate lines to from the city’s longest railway line. The station now also brings people from the Northeast New Territories and Hong Kong Island as the East Rail Line has been extended from Hong Hom Station to Admiralty Station via Hong Kong’s fourth cross-harbour tunnel.

A large-scale revamp of the station was needed for the rail system upgrade. WSP was the detailed design consultant responsible for the design of building services of the new station including the modification of the existing operating part of the station. Our services covered the associated modification of building services in all the operating East Rail Line stations, associated tunnels as well as the statuary and authority matters in relation to fire engineering and tunnel evacuation analysis.

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Change in two phases

Hung Hom Station was planned to be a super interchange station under the Shatin-to-Central Link project and transformed in two phases.

The first phase involved the connection from Tai Wai to Hung Hom to form the Tuen Ma Line. During this phase, Hung Hom Station remained as a terminal station of East Rail Line while serving as an interchange station of Tuen Ma Line at its newly constructed part.

The second phase brought East Rail Line across the harbour. In this phase, the East Rail Line changed from a 12-car to a 9-car railway and modifications to all the existing 13 operating East Rail Line stations from Lo Wu/Lok Ma Chau to Mong Kok were required.

To accommodate these rail extension plans, an underground level platform and an at-grade platform have been built beneath and alongside the existing Hung Hom station podium, which was a freight yard and intercity train terminal. A key challenge was to maintain full operations of the existing railway lines while modification works take place. To minimise noise during the daily train operations from 5am to 1am, the station could only undergo 3 to 4 hours of noise-bearing construction a day.

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Escalators connecting to the new platforms under construction

Tailored modification

Unlike other conventional subway stations, where the E&M plant rooms are typically located underground, the Hung Hom Station extension used an existing freight yard for platform and E&M plant rooms, reducing construction cost for underground space.

The project also involved the decommissioning of existing commercial areas during different construction stages to incorporate new escalators, staircases and lifts connecting to the new platforms, under an operating station environment and without affecting the operation of the Customs Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) and intercity train service.

Our design also included the improvement of the existing fire protection system by adding long throw sprinklers. Indeed, Hung Hom Station is the first Hong Kong railway station to adopt these long throw sprinklers.

Other challenges that we have overcome