Kowloon-Canton Railway

When did the government started the expanding of KCR?

  Work on modernising and expanding the Kowloon-Canton Railway continued during the year following the opening of the new $150-million railway terminus at Hung Hom in November 1975. The 34-kilometre railways runs from Kowloon to the Lo Wu border with China and it is owned by the Hong Kong Government. It serves people travelling to and from areas along its route through Kowloon and the New territories and it also carries passengers and freight to and from China. Passengers for China change trains at the border.

  In 1976 the railway operated 20 passenger trains and up to eight freight trains a day each way, apart from a short break following a tropical storm in August. The storm damaged the railway bridge over the Shing Mun River to such an extent that it had to be demolished and rebuilt. Services were quickly resumed on either side of the bridge and a shuttle bus service was used to carry passengers from one train to another. The bridge, which was damaged on August 25, was completely rebuilt and back in use on October 11.

How did the Hong Kong government cope with the increasing volume of traffic?

  To enable the railway to cope with the increasing volume of traffic, the busiest section of the line is to be double-tracked. The stretch from Hung Hom to Sha Tin is being dealt with first. At the same time, existing semaphore signals are being replaced by more efficient coloured light signalling and rails are being welded into continuous lengths to provide smother and quieter journeys and to enable the use of machines for track maintenance.

Did the KCR added any other facilities in their trains?

     Installation of air-conditioning in four first class coaches was commanded during the year in 1979. If results show that there is sufficient demand, more coaches will be air-conditioned.

Buses