Archive:Hong Kong Mass Transport Study/Chapter 8

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Chapter 7 — Stage Development and the Effects of Implementation

Hong Kong Mass Transport Study, Chapter 8 Route Location and Right of Way

Chapter 9 — Design and Construction

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ROUTE LOCATION AND RIGHT OF WAY

1. An important factor affecting the use of public transport is the distance that people must walk to the nearest stop or station. Although a quarter of a mile is considered a reasonable walking distance on level ground, the proportion of people who will use a transport service decreases as distance increases even within a quarter mile. Therefore, to obtain the maximum use of a rapid-transit system, the routes should penetrate into the heart of the principal residential, industrial and commercial centres. The stations should be located immediately adjacent to buildings which have the highest numbers of potential riders. Such an arrangement will both maximise revenue and offer most relief to road congestion.
2. The location of routes and the position of stations is particularly important in central business areas where the close grouping of multi-storey buildings causes heavy concentrations of people. Convenient public transport is vital to the efficient functioning of these centres and thereby the preservation of property and business values. In these areas a grade-separated mass transport system can do the most efficient job by providing easy access where surface streets are congested and surface transport is very slow. Access and convenience are impaired if the stations are located at the edge, instead of in the centre, of the business area.

ALIGNMENT STANDARDS

3. The design standards reflect a balance between capital and operating cost on the one hand and speed, convenience, passenger comfort and aesthetics on the other. Although high standards have been used they are not the highest attainable.
4. Horizontal Alignment — Curve radii must be as large as possible because, though the cant on the running track is designed to give a comfortable ride at the normal operating speed, the occasion will arise when a train has to stop or run very slowly on a curve. If it were too heavily canted then the standing passengers would experience discomfort. In practice the alternative of limited cant coupled with speed restriction is preferable.
5. Wherever possible the radius has been kept to a minimum of 1,500 feet to avoid such restrictions. Train speed approaching and leaving stations will only be about 30 miles per hour, so at these locations radii as small as 1 ,000 feet are considered acceptable though avoided where practicable. In exceptional circumstances an absolute minimum radius of 600 feet is used, but all radii below 1,000 feet are considered substandard. In four places substandard radii have had to be adopted for the recommended system, but in three instances these are on the immediate approach to a station.
6. The length of track within a station should be straight so that the person responsible for closing the doors can see the whole length of the train. Where this is not possible, a minimum radius of 3,000 feet is used to ensure that the gap between the platform and the floor of the car at doorways is not more than three inches.
7. Vertical Alignment — Gradients have normally been kept to a maximum of 2 per cent but where savings in capital cost are significant, a few gradients of 3 per cent, and occasionally up to 3.6 per cent, have been adopted. To permit natural drainage, a minimum gradient of 0.3 per cent is maintained on underground sections of line. Wherever possible steep climbing gradients are embodied in the approaches to stations, and falling gradients in the exits from them to facilitate the braking and acceleration of the trains.
8. Within stations the track should be level. In exceptional circumstances a gradient of up to 0.5 per cent is accepted. A limit of 4 per cent is used on approaches to storage sidings, as only empty trains will use these.

RIGHT OF WAY

9. For underground construction the minimum width required for the construction of the double track running tunnel is 35 to 40 feet, depending on the construction method used. The width required for a station varies considerably according to the design and may be as much as 85 feet for a portion of its length.
10. The width of the structure for overhead construction is about 30 feet for standard double running track and up to 76 feet for part of the length of a station. In order to safeguard environment, buildings should not be permitted within 20 feet of the structure, and therefore in assessing cost of acquisition, a width of 70 feet for right of way was allowed.
11. It was originally thought that overhead lines could be located in the medians of divided highways, but closer investigation has revealed several disadvantages in this arrangement.
    1. The rail line must follow the road alignment which, in the case of existing roads, is usually below the standards re quired for rapid transit.
    2. The width of the station structure is such that the road would be effectively in tunnel for the 600-foot length.
    3. There is a considerable problem in giving access to both platforms from each side of the road. Thus in Kwun Tong and Chai Wan where overhead construction has been recommended the route is located beside the main road and means must be found to give access from the station mezzanine to the opposite side of the road.
12. Right-of-way Costs — The cost of land acquisition for the rapid-transit system is an important element in the analysis of financial feasibility. Most of the land that must be acquired can be resold after construction. The cost estimates for land are considered to be representative of market values.
13. The Crown Lands and Survey Office of the Public Works Department provided an estimate of the cost of resumption for the land and buildings required for construction. This estimate, $285 million, included a small amount for landlord and tenant compensation. To make additional allowance for this item the resumption cost has been increased to $300 million. It is estimated that all but $75 million will be recovered by resale of the land after the completion of construction. Land near stations will probably be more valuable after construction than before and may therefore, be sold for more than it cost; but no allowance has been made for this.
14. In addition to the costs of resumption, it is expected that there will be claims for loss of business during construction. Forty million dollars has been allocated to meet these claims.
15. Land is required for maintenance depots and also in certain areas to provide a right of way for overhead sections of the system. The cost of land for depots, except the one at Chai Wan, has been computed at the current industrial land value of $30 per square foot. At Chai Wan the depot is located in an area where reclamation has not been contemplated before, so the cost has been calculated at $10 per square foot which is a relatively high cost for reclamation. The total cost of land for these facilities is estimated at $75 million. Table 65 shows the cost for right of way by years of expenditure.

ROUTES INVESTIGATED

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Figure 58 — Rapid-transit Routes investigated

16. Many possible routes were investigated in the process of developing the recommended system. Some were rejected early since they were found to have serious deficiencies and others were discarded after the analysis of traffic assignments. A few that were not finally selected can still be considered reasonable alternatives. Figure 58 shows most of the routes that were investigated, but some of those discarded early in the study are not shown.
17. Hong Kong Island — The routes investigated included a route in bored tunnel through the hillside approximately along the line of Bonham Road, Caine Road, Kennedy Road, Queen's Road East, Tung Lo Wan Road and Tin Hau Temple Road. This route had the advantage of minimum disturbance to existing development but was discarded because it would not provide adequate service to large concentrations of development. Similarly the route along the shore line, which would have had merit if it could have been accompanied by a plan for major reconstruction of port and ferry services together with new housing and commercial development, failed to give the desired level of service and its construction would cause great disruption to existing port activities and ferry operations.
18. In the western corridor the route in Queen's Road West has been chosen because it is more centrally located than Des Voeux Road West. In Central District the width of Queen's Road Central is insufficient for station construction and the alignment is poor so the route is located in Des Voeux Road Central. The proposed redevelopment scheme in Western District affords the opportunity to locate the route between Des Voeux Road Central and Queen's Road West. East of Pedder Street the route is located in Chater Road because the Kapok Drive road scheme will alter the traffic flow in the area and allow Chater Road to be partly closed to traffic during construction.
19. Road width and alignment preclude the use of Queen's Road East and Johnston Road in Wan Chai but, with the completion of the Wan Chai Reclamation, Hennessy Road and Lockhart Road will both be acceptable routes. Buildings will be affected at station sites on the Lockhart Road route but, since it is not a through-traffic route, sections may be partly closed to traffic during construction. This last factor determined the choice of Lockhart Road but Hennessy Road is still an acceptable alternative.
20. Poor alignment of the routes across the south of Victoria Park determined selection in the Causeway Bay area. At North Point, King's Road is not only the widest right of way but is also at present the most central. The route immediately to the south of King's Road appears to have advantages from construction aspects and merits further examination, particularly if development of the slopes above North Point shifts the centre of development away from King's Road. In Shau Kei Wan the alignment, width, and congestion of Shau Kei Wan Road and the plans for construction on the hillsides to the south-west of the existing development influenced the choice of route in the region of Sai Wan Ho. The proposed commercial development and the standard of service were instrumental in the choice of a route across the Aldrich Bay reclamation. The route in this area is also influenced by the need to provide storage sidings for the trains of the Island Line. The most suitable site for these sidings and the associated inspection sheds is at Lei Yue Mun Bay.
21. In Chai Wan the planned road pattern has had to be followed as closely as possible so that construction costs could be reduced by the adoption of overhead instead of underground construction.
22. Several routes were considered for service to Aberdeen, of which the one starting in the Naval Dockyard area seems the best. Although rapid-transit service to Aberdeen is not being recommended at this time, allowance has been made for this line as an extension of the Tsuen Wan Line in the design of Admiralty Station.
23. Cross Harbour — The recommended cross-harbour route is largely dictated by the needs on each side of the harbour. The route chosen fulfills these requirements and has good horizontal alignment. The route between North Point and Kwun Tong is not recommended at this time but allowance has been made for it in the design.
24. Mainland — On the west side of Kowloon, Nathan Road stands out as the widest right of way and the major line of travel desire. However, it is also one of the major traffic arteries of Kowloon; and in order to avoid disturbance to its traffic and to adjacent buildings during construction alternative routes in Portland Street and Sai Yeung Choi Street were examined. These streets are very close to Nathan Road, but both are too narrow and would involve considerable property demolition. The same drawbacks applied to the routes in Shanghai Street and Canton Road.
25. When it was determined that two lines were required in the Nathan Road corridor, further investigations were carried out to find an alternative to the Nathan Road route for the second line. The three main points in the case for putting the second line on a different route are:
    1. If both routes were constructed in Nathan Road it would be impracticable to stage the construction of the two lines; so at least part of one line would remain idle until completion of the second stage.
    2. By locating the second line away from Nathan Road, service to more people would be provided by virtue of a larger number of stations.
    3. A second route would encourage a second corridor of development with an associated increase in land values.
26. From the point of view of spreading development, a route to the west of Nathan Road is considered preferable because the high ground would restrict development on the east. A re-examination of routes west of Nathan Road showed that in all cases, with the exception of the most western route, the narrow width of right of way would result in large scale demolition and poor alignment.
27. The route beside the Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Anchorage would satisfy the above conditions, particularly if a proposal to reclaim the typhoon anchorage were implemented. Also the right of way would be of adequate width. However, this route was reluctantly abandoned for the reasons given below.
28. Because development at Kwun Tong is further advanced than at Tsuen Wan the Kwun Tong Line should be constructed first. Also, since Nathan Road lies on the established desire line in western Kowloon, the first line, i.e. the Kwun Tong Line should be located in Nathan Road. Therefore, the Tsuen Wan Line would have to be constructed along Tong Mi Road.
29. A direct connection from Tong Mi Road to Cheung Sha Wan Road was considered undesirable because large-scale property demolition would be involved, because the estimated 190,000 transfer movements per day between the Tsuen Wan and Kwun Tong Lines could not satisfactorily be handled and because the passengers on the Tsuen Wan Line would not have satisfactory access to Nathan Road.
30. To accommodate the transfer movements at the north end of Nathan Road the two lines should be constructed one above the other. The only way in which this could be done involved extensive demolition of property and very poor alignment. Also, all practicable alternative track arrangements would involve moving the station positions along Nathan Road away from the major desire points to maintain a reasonable station spacing.
31. To a lesser degree the same problem occurred at the southern end of the corridor; so it was reluctantly decided to abandon further consideration of the alternative routes to the west of Nathan Road. However, when detailed design work for the rapid-transit system is started, these alternatives should be re-examined.
32. It was found practicable to reduce the first stage cost by constructing the section of the Tsuen Wan Line between Soy Street and Austin Road slightly to the east of Nathan Road. The stations on the two lines can be linked by underground passageways.
33. In order to reduce interference with surface traffic bored tunnelling techniques are recommended in Nathan Road, south of Waterloo Road, except at stations. South of Austin Road the route in Whitfield Barracks is preferred to avoid interference with traffic and property in Tsim Sha Tsui.
34. Lai Chi Kok Road is too far from the centre of development in Sham Shui Po and Cheung Sha Wan to prove acceptable and the same criticism to a lesser extent applies to Castle Peak Road. Because a large tract of land in this area is occupied by the War Department, there are service advantages in the routes in Un Chau Street and Fuk Wing Street, but these are offset by the narrowness of the streets. Cheung Sha Wan Road provides a right of way of adequate width and would be centrally located if the War Department land should ever revert to civil development.
35. In the region of Lai Chi Kok Bay the route beside the Lai Chi Kok Bridge, would adversely affect the residential development currently under construction, so the route is located in the established right of way through the development. The two northerly routes to Tsuen Wan involve long and expensive tunnels, whereas the recommended route offers not only cheaper construction but better distribution of service in Kwai Chung and Tsuen Wan.
36. The routes in Waterloo Road, Argyle Street, Princess Margaret Road and Gascoigne Road were discarded because they did not serve major desire lines nor fit in with other routes.
37. It was necessary to find a route between Kwun Tong and Nathan Road. The routes in the Prince Edward Road and Boundary Street corridor could serve this purpose but the more northerly routes offered much better service to the resettlement estates at Lo Fu Ngam and Wong Tai Sin and also served the proposed development at Diamond Hill. Of the northerly routes the one along Norfolk Road offered a better connection with the Kowloon-Canton Railway than the route in Cornwall Street and the recommended route gave the best service to the Shek Kip Mei and Tai Hang Tung Housing Estates. Further east the more southerly route through the centre of the Lo Fu Ngam Estate clearly offers the better service as does the route along Lung Cheung Road.
38. Southeast from Diamond Hill the route to the north of Choi Hung and the Royal Air Force Quarters on Kwun Tong Road provides space for the route to climb to pass over Kwun Tong Road without affecting property. The routes south of the Royal Air Force Quarters are of slightly poorer alignment and do not offer the same opportunity for overhead construction. Further south, Kwun Tong Road and Lei Yue Mun Road offer an obvious right of way. The use of a short section of Ngau Tau Kok Road was considered but discarded because of problems in relation to the access to the Kowloon Bay maintenance depot.
39. If the cross-harbour route between North Point and Kwun Tong is ever required it should follow Hoi Yuen Road. This route affords an opportunity to serve the intermediate levels in Kwun Tong, provides interchange facilities between lines at Kwun Tong Station and can be extended to Junk Bay.
40. It is necessary for the route in east Kowloon to connect with the route in the Nathan Road corridor in order to provide satisfactory transfer facilities. The routes using the southern portion of Chatham Road and the Kowloon-Canton Railway are unsuitable because they intersect the route in the Nathan Road corridor too close to the harbour crossing for the construction of a transfer station. In addition they do not serve the proposed developments on the Hung Hom Reclamation nor do they enable interchange with the railway at the proposed Hung Hom Terminal. The route in Cameron Road requires less demolition of property than that in Humphrey and Prat Avenues.
41. North of the Hung Hom Railway Terminal the alignment of the route in Chatham Road is poor and more property is affected than on the route in Gillies Avenue. North of Chatham Road the route in To Kwa Wan Road does not offer sufficient service to warrant construction. In the same way the service provided by the route in Kowloon City Road is poor. The service afforded by the Pak Tai Street route is good and so is the alignment.
42. The routes to Sha Tin which pass through Kowloon City do not afford service to the large resettlement estate at Tsz Wan Shan. The routes using Choi Hung Road are of very poor alignment. The recommended route offers reasonable service to San Po Kong, Tung Tau Resettlement Estate, Kai Tak Airport and Tsz Wan Shan and also has good interchange with the Kwun Tong Line at Diamond Hill Station.
43. Serious consideration was given to the use of the Kowloon-Canton Railway to provide rapid-transit service to Sha Tin. However, the railway line passes through areas of Kowloon which are of relatively low density and, since it runs along the edge of the proposed Sha Tin New Town, it does not offer adequate service to the future development. Also because the railway carries important goods traffic which is incompatible with rapid-transit operation, it would be necessary to provide three tracks between Hung Hom and Sha Tin. These factors led to the decision not to use the railway as part of a rapid-transit system.
44. The recommended route runs through the Sha Tin Valley from the southwest to the northeast. The alignment entering the valley from the eastern side was considered but was not adopted because of the restrictions it would place on future extension. The recommended route can be extended to Tai Po if further development makes this desirable.

PLANS AND PROFILES

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Figure 59 — Key Map of Plan and Profile Plates

45. Plans and profiles for the recommended system were designed originally to a scale of 1 inch to 50 feet and appear on the following pages at a scale of I inch to 400 feet. In general, the plans show the existing development but in many areas, such as Chai Wan, Tsuen Wan and Sha Tin, the expected pattern of future development has been indicated by the use of broken lines. In some areas, the road layout shown on the official plans has been adjusted in order to meet the requirements of the rapid-transit line but the pattern of development has been altered as little as possible. The profiles have been based on available information on ground levels and utilities; obviously they will be subject to minor variation in the light of more detailed investigations. Figure 59 is a key map of the plan and profile plates.

Proceed to Plan and Profile Plates