 |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||
The MTR or Mass Transit Railway (HKSE:0066) is the subway train system of Hong Kong. It is operated by MTR Corporations Ltd., a company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and included in the Hang Seng Index.
The network has 6 lines and 50 stations:
There are two different fares for travel on the MTR: Adult and Concessionary. To qualify for the concessionary rate, you need to be a child aged below 12, be 65 years old or above, or be a full-time Hong Kong student aged between 12 and 25 years old.
The adult travel fares are based on distance, and range from HK$4 to $26. Concessionary fares are usually half the adult fare, and range from $3 to $13. You do not pay a different fare if you use a different route to reach your destination.
A single journey on the Airport Express from Hong Kong Station to the Airport costs HK$100 (adult fare; $50 concessionary rate).
There are three payment methods: Octopus card, Single Journey Ticket and Tourist Pass, which allows for unlimited rides on the MTR for one day. Extra discounts are given for using an Octopus card.
The Mass Transit Railway Corporation was established in 1975 as a government wholly owned statutory corporation and on June 30, 2000 was succeeded by MTR Corporation Limited. The principal business is to operate the mass transit railway system. With its reliable operation, business management and planning, it has become a safe, comfortable, fast and effective means of transportation that is widely used by Hong Kong people. Following a successful initial public offering, the shares of MTR were listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong on October 5, 2000, with the government retaining a majority stake.
Besides railway operations, the Corporation is also actively involved in the development of key residential and commercial projects above existing stations and along new line extensions as well as many other commercial activities associated with the railway. This includes rental of retail and poster advertising space, ATM banking facilities and personal telecommunication services. It also provides consultancy services to organizations worldwide.
Talk of a merger between the government owned Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) and the MTR to make the territory's transport system more efficient has been a heated topic since 2002. MTRC backed a merger while government-owned KCRC opposed the plan. In March 2004, the Hong Kong government officially encouraged the two organizations to merge.
During the 1960s, the Hong Kong government felt a need to accommodate the increasing traffic predicted for the coming decades and appointed British transport consultants Freeman, Fox, Wilbur Smith & Associates to study the transport system of Hong Kong. The consultants finished the "Hong Kong Mass Transport Study" in September 1967 with a proposal of the construction of an underground mass transit system.
In 1970, a network of underground system was laid with four lines -- the Kwun Tong Line, Tsuen Wan Line, Island Line and East Kowloon Line. The lines with the same name as the in the present network in the then proposed system was slightly different from the present system.
In 1972, the Hong Kong government authorized the construction of Kwun Tong Line, which was the initial system.
In 1973 the government slightly reduced the system and renamed it as the Modified Initial System. The HK government also set up the Mass Transit Railway Corporation to replace the Mass Transport Provisional Authority to supervise the whole construction. The East Kowloon Line was decided not to be built then.
In October 1, 1979, the MTR was partially opened, with trains running from Shek Kip Mei to Kwun Tong.
Since 1997, the Corporation has operated the Octopus (八達通, literally "eight-direction thoroughfare") Access Control System and the firm became the pioneer in using this payment system. The octopus card is a rechargeable contactless smart card. Money is "stored" in the card. The amount can be automatically calculated and deducted. You can check the remaining value by simply using the fare deducting processor in the station. The system has proven so popular, it has been extended to different services such as other transport operators (including the KCR; minibus services; regular buses such as KMB, Citybus, etc), supermarkets and fast food restaurants. It has the potential to be further developed in other fields of services. The older, traditional magnetic ticketing system is also still in use for single journeys.
The MTR Corporation invested heavily to develop large scale shopping centres around the MTR stations. An example is the Maritime Square (青衣城) at Tsing Yi station, a nautical-themed mall in which there are supermarkets, boutiques, bookstores, a cinema, and restaurants, etc. It is also easily accessible by other transportation means including buses and taxis. Other shopping centers developed and managed by the corporation include Paradise Mall (杏花新城), Telford Plaza (德福廣場), and Luk Yeung Galleria (綠楊坊). It is one of the goals of the MTR Corporation to provide a high quality working and living environment around its railway stations.
Property is the main business of the Corporation. They try to develop suitable sites related to their new railway projects and their existing railway. For instance, the reclaimed land situated on the west Kowloon, will become an area with residential, office and retail development. Two banks in Hong Kong, HSBC and Bank of China, have office towers there. Furthermore, there are residential flats nearby, provided with more than 7000 flats. Recreational facilities, market, schools and transport interchanges are also available. This idea fulfills the aspiration of people nowadays. Such innovative concept achieves their goal to respond to customer's changing desire and with technological advances.
See also: International Finance Centre
MTR Corporation extends their share in the properties field by establishing the one-stop property agency and consultant services. Well experienced, qualified and professional consultants are readily available to provide information about the new and second-hand market sales and rental issues for the buyers and sellers.
The firm also has their own team of professionals who are experts in the technology of construction, marketing, financing and any other fields. Hence they can maintain the quality of services by themselves.
Metropolis Daily Hong Kong was launched on 15 April 2002 and was distributed for free in racks of 49 MTR stations. See Metropolis Daily for more extensive info.
Trains of the urban routes of the MTR system can be divided into 2 catergories, the M-Stocks from Alstom Transport (formerly known as the Metro Cammell) and the modern K-Stocks from Korea Rolling Stock Company
Each train is composed of 8 cars, rail gauge is 1432mm, powered by 1500volt of direct circuit electricity.
All cars running urban lines have 5 doors on each side.
The cars of the urban routes can be subdivided into four typess as follows:
The configuration of a service M-Stock train is A-C-D-B-C-D-C-A
Each car is 3000mm width over body panel, floor to rail is 1100mm high and roof to rail is 3700mm high.
A service train has an acceleration of 1.0m/s/s, service brake is regenerative blend with air-brake at the rate of 1.0m/s/s and emergency brake is air-brake at 1.4m/s/s. Maximum speed is 80km/h.
Primary suspension is Chevron Springs, secondary suspension is air bags.
Traction system of M-Stocks is gate turn off chopper control
Each car has 45 seats and capable of holding 268 standing passengers, with an additional space for wheelchair. Control systems are ATC (automatic train control and ATP automatic train protection.
The M-set EMUs were refurbished in the mid-1990s by the Australian company United Goninan. Significant aspects of this refurbishment involved altering the fibreglass facade on the ends of A cars to modernise their appearance, as well as installation of more advanced digital voice announcement (DVA) and passenger information systems; amongst other upgrades. United Goninan was subsequently awarded a contract to maintain the MTR rolling-stock. (It is interesting to note that such advances were not integrated into operational Australian rolling-stock until late 2001.)
K-Stock trains have 3 types of cars:
A cars: cars with driver cab and motor. In 2003 there are 26 K-Stock A cars in MTR system. B cars: cars with motor. In 2003 there are 39 K-Stock B cars in MTR system. C cars: cars with motor and pantograph. There are 39 K-Stock C cars in the MTR system in 2003.
Since it is much heavier than M-Stocks, it does not have any cars similar to D cars in M-Stocks. K-Stock cars currently only service the Kwun Tong Line, the configuration of a K-Stock train is A-C-B-C-B-B-C-A.
All K-Stock cars are 22000mm in length, 3118mm in width, 3698mm in height.
Maximum speed of K-Stock is 80km/h, maximum acceleration is 1.3m/s/s, maximum service deceleration rate is 0.8~1.35m/s/s, emergency deceleration is 1.4m/s/s
K-Stock train also installed ATC and ATP.
K-Stocks come into service for MTR since August, 2002. This modern train is equipped with the modern 4th generation IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) VVVF converter from Hitachi.
Originally these stocks are to be assigned on the Tseung Kwan O Line, but maintainance problems mean that they are now all assigned to Kwun Tong Line instead.
Trains of both Tung Chung Line (TCL) and Airport Express Line (AEL) are all manufactured jointly in Spain by ADTranz and CAF. Track gauge for these two lines are both 1432mm and power supply are both 1500 volt acceleration is 1m/s/s, maximum service brake rate is 1.1m/s/s, emergency brake has deceleration of 1.35m/s/s.
TCL trains are equipped with ATC and ATP.
Traction system of TCL trains is acceleration is 1m/s/s, maximum service deceleration is 1.1m/s/s, emergency brake can deliver deceleration of 1.35m/s/s.
All AEL trains have ATC and ATP installed. Traction of AEL trains are GTO Thyrsitor.
The famous Little Astrology prince has set up a MTR astrology game. This is when you can use your birth date, and the Little Astrology prince will relate it to a MTR station and predict your character and love life.
|
||||
| View Live Article | This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License | |
||
