Hong Kong Snapshot (97) MTR, the HK railway system 香港隨拍 (97) 港鐵！香港的鐵路系統，其實很有趣！

Last time we talked about the Kowloon-Canton Railway of HK (KCR). Today let’s talk about the history of HK railway! Hong Kong is an international city and rapidly grew since 1960. But I can tell you that HK didn’t have a good railway system until the 1980s.

上一回講到香港九廣鐵路的發展，這一回不妨講一講香港鐵路的發展！雖然香港是一個國際化城市，由六十年代開始起飛，但原來香港一直到七八十年代才開始有一個完善的鐵路網絡。

Causeway Bay Station 銅鑼灣站

You may know that Central is the core commercial district of HK, with almost all global firms, financial institutions located. The HK Exchange and Cleaning Limited is also at Central. But it’s funny that we didn’t have a Central station until 1980. Before 1979, There was only one rail in the New Territories from Tsim Sha Tsui to China. And there were no railway in Kowloon and the HK Island.

In 1964, the HK Government started to face the problem of public transportation. They proposed an underground railway network in 1967, with length of 51km. With a long time of adjustment, a railway system of 15.6km was confirmed in 1975. In 1979, the railway was opened. The ticket fee at that time was only HK$1. The underground railway system was called the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) and extended the network in the coming decades. In 2007, the KCR was merged into MTR also. Now, the MTR is one of the busiest railway system in the world, with length 230.9 km. the market share of the public transport market is 48.4%. Furthermore, the MTR now also operated the railway network in the mainland China including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, as well as London in Britain and Stockholm in Sweden.

眾所周知，中環是香港最核心的商業區域，絕大部份的跨國企業，金融機構，以至香交易所都設置在中環，但原來，中環一直到1980年才有地鐵站。在1979年以前，香港只有在新界有一段鐵路，由九廣鐵路有限公司管理，從尖沙咀延伸至羅湖站，而香港及九龍的核心區域，都是沒有鐵路的，市民只能依靠陸上交通工具及輪船。

直到1964年，香港政府開始正視香港的交通問題，最後在1967年提出興建地底鐵路系統，全長51公里，但中途經過多番修正，最終在1975年落實鐵路全長15.6公里並開動工，終於在1979年，第一段地鐵系統正式通車，當時的票價只是$1。在之後的數十年，香港地鐵系統不斷新增鐵路線，更在2007年與九廣鐵路合併成香港鐵路有限公司，地鐵亦改名為「港鐵」，如果你今天在香港聽地有人說「地鐵」，那就代表他有一定的年紀了哈哈。時至今日，港鐵系統已是全球最繁忙鐵路系統之一，全長230.9公里，連接香港大部份的地區在香港的公共交通工具佔有率達48.4%。另一方面，港鐵並不只滿足於香港，更將鐵路的業務範圍擴展至內地的深圳、北京、上海、杭州，還有倫敦、及斯德哥爾摩等地。

The proposed route map in 1967 (source from Wikipedia)

The final route map in 1970 (source from Wikipedia)

The MTR stations are also one of the culture of HK. Every station got different colors as the main theme such as Yellow for Wong Tai Shin station (Wong means yellow in Chinese), Blue for Lam Tin station (Lam means blue in Chinese) and rainbow colour for Choi Hung Station (Choi Hung means rainbow in Chinese). For those “big” station, it is usually in Red colour, just like the Central station, Mongkok station and Tsuen Wan station. In recent years, there are more and more art galleries and artwork in MTR stations.

香港的港鐵站也是一大特色，每個車站都以不同的顏色為主色，選取的顏色更是配合了當地的特色或風格而訂，例如黃大仙用黃色、藍田站用藍色、彩虹站則用彩虹七色，至於比較大型的車站則通常使用紅色，如中環、旺角、荃灣站等。近年港鐵更在車站內裝置不同的藝術品及畫廊等，讓市民在匆匆之中仍能感受到藝術氣息。

Choi Hung station 彩虹站 (source from Wikipedia)

Diamond Hill station 鑽石山站 (source from Wikipedia)

Artwork in Sai Wan station 西環站的藝術品

2 years ago, a couple from Ireland spent 1-year time to take selfies in all 83 MTR stations. But just a reminder that photo taking is actually not allowed in MTR station. If you want to take a selfie, be careful haha.

一對旅居香港3年的愛爾蘭情侶，就曾在一年內到訪港鐵83個車站自拍，不過，港鐵站其實是不能拍照的，所以大家如想在港鐵站拍照，就要小心一點。

Sunny Bay – an umbrella stands for sunny! 欣澳站 (photo from unwire.hk)

Wong Tai Sin – the most famous temple of HK is at Wong Tai Sin
黃大仙站 – 自然就是黃大仙廟的所在地了
(photo from unwire.hk)

Admiralty – easy to understand right?
金鐘站 – admiralty 有海軍的意思
(photo from unwire.hk)

Fortress Hill – Why no fortress? It’s because the oven wave was bought from a HK home appliances store called Fortress….
炮台山 – 為什麼不是炮台？因為那台微波爐是在香港一間叫Fortress的家品店買的….

Next time when you come HK and take the MTR, just spend some time to enjoy the features of the MTR stations!

下次來香港的時候，就不妨多停留一回，細心留意每個港鐵站的特色吧！

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