The

Tsuen Wan line The Tsuen Wan line () is one of the ten lines of the rapid transit, metro network in Hong Kong's MTR. It is indicated in on the MTR map. There are 16 stations on the line. The southern terminus is Central station (MTR), Central statio ...

of Hong Kong's

Mass Transit Railway The Mass Transit Railway system, known locally by the initialism MTR, is a rapid transit system in Hong Kong and the territory's principal mode of Rail transport in Hong Kong, railway transportation. Operated by the MTR Corporation (MTRCL), ...

(MTR) system includes a dual-tracked,

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

immersed tube An immersed tube (or immersed tunnel) is a kind of undersea tunnel composed of segments, Modular construction, constructed elsewhere and floated to the tunnel site to be sunk into place and then linked together. They are commonly used for road an ...

railway tunnel across

Victoria Harbour Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbor, harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. It acts as both a major trading hub and tourist attraction of Hong Kong in general. Lying in ...

, connecting

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island () is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. The island, known originally and on road signs simply as "Hong Kong", had a population of 1,289,500 and a population density of , . It is the second largest island in Hong Kon ...

Kowloon Kowloon () is one of the areas of Hong Kong, three areas of Hong Kong, along with Hong Kong Island and the New Territories. It is an urban area comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It has a population of 2,019,533 and a populat ...

History

First proposed as early as 1967 in a study commissioned by the Hong Kong government in 1966,''Rail Mass Transit for Developing Countries: Proceedings of the Conference Organised by the Institution of Civil Engineers, and Held in London on 9–10 October 1989''
, Thomas Telford, 1990, p. 141 it was the first

railway tunnel Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

to cross the Victoria Harbour and also the first

subsea Subsea technology involves fully submerged ocean equipment, operations, or applications, especially when some distance offshore, in deep ocean waters, or on the seabed. The term ''subsea'' is frequently used in connection with oceanography, marin ...

railway tunnel in the territory. It was the second

fixed crossing A fixed link or fixed crossing is a permanent, unbroken road or rail connection across water that uses some combination of bridges, tunnels, and causeways and does not involve intermittent connections such as drawbridges or ferries. A bridge–tun ...

to cross the harbour, after the vehicular Cross Harbour Tunnel opened in 1972. The stations at the south and north ends of the tunnel are, respectively,

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...

and

Tsim Sha Tsui Tsim Sha Tsui ( zh, c=尖沙咀), often abbreviated as TST, is an list of areas of Hong Kong, area in southern Kowloon, Hong Kong. The area is administratively part of the Yau Tsim Mong District. Tsim Sha Tsui East is a piece of land reclaimed ...

. Its construction by

Kumagai Gumi is a Japanese construction company founded in Fukui, Fukui Prefecture, Japan. The company still has registered headquarters in Fukui, but the actual head office is located in Shinjuku, Tokyo. History Santaro Kumagai, the company's founder, be ...

commenced in 1976. The 14 tunnel segments, each 100 metres long, were cast in a basin in Chai Wan. The tunnel was designed by Per Hall Consultants under the supervision of Freeman Fox and Partners. A specially designed barge, constructed for Kumagai Gumi by

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the prede ...

, arrived in Hong Kong in February 1977 to help form the seabed alignment and thereafter lay the tunnel segments into place. The structural completion of the tunnel was marked on 26 March 1979 by a celebratory walk-through and breaking-open of a barrel of

sake Sake, , or saki, also referred to as Japanese rice wine, is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indeed any East Asi ...

. Upon its opening in 1980, the tunnel was part of the

Modified Initial System The Mass Transit Railway system, known locally by the initialism MTR, is a rapid transit system in Hong Kong and the territory's principal mode of railway transportation. Operated by the MTR Corporation (MTRCL), it consists of heavy rail, l ...

of the territory's

MTR The Mass Transit Railway system, known locally by the initialism MTR, is a rapid transit system in Hong Kong and the territory's principal mode of Rail transport in Hong Kong, railway transportation. Operated by the MTR Corporation (MTRCL), ...

. The full Modified Initial System was opened on 12 February 1980 by Princess Alexandra. She also rode the inaugural train through the immersed tube beneath

Chater station Central () is an MTR station located in the Central area of Hong Kong Island. The station's livery is firebrick red but brown on the platforms. The station is the southern terminus of the , a stop on the , and connects to Hong Kong station ...

, which was renamed Central station in 1985. In 1982 the tunnel became part of the network's

References

1980 establishments in Hong Kong Admiralty, Hong Kong Immersed tube tunnels in Hong Kong Railway tunnels in Hong Kong Tsim Sha Tsui Undersea tunnels in Asia Victoria Harbour {{Victoria Harbour

History

See also

References