TIMELINE - Hong Kong MTR

The growth of Hong Kong

Data. Census & Statistic Department, Hong Kong

Hong Kong went under a remarkable growth through the 1960 to the 1980. Within this period the city went from a manufacturing hub to a financial centre. Its capacity to reinvent itself is indeed remarkable.

It is presently undergoing its metamorphosis into a Financial & High Technology hub (FINTECH).

Some events from the past

'Economically, this era (1970) is considered a major stepping stone for Hong Kong. It is considered the first turning point for Hong Kong's economy. The per capita GDP was still relatively low in 1960, approximately being the same as Peru, South Africa and Greece in the same decade. By comparison, Argentina had two times and Venezuela had three times the GDP of Hong Kong.[1] The living standard was rising steadily, but low wages continued. The number of registered factories increased from 3,000 in 1950s to 10,000 in 1960s. Registered foreign companies increased from 300 to 500. There were demands for labour in every sector of the economy'.

Wikipedia: HK in the 1960's

'Hong Kong in the 1970s underwent many changes that shaped its future, led for most of the decade by its longest-serving and reform-minded Governor, Murray MacLehose. Economically, it reinvented itself from a manufacturing base into a financial centre. '

Wikipedia: HK in the 1970's

Background leading to the creation of the Hong Kong MTR

RAPID POPULATION GROWTH
LONDON TRANSPORT BOARD + ROAD RESEARCH LAB GIVE SUGGESTION FOR IMPROVING TRANSPORATION IN HK
THE PASSENGER TRANSPORT SURVERY UNIT (PTSU) ESTABLISHED

GOVERNMENT REALISES THE URGENCY OF MASS TRANSPORT
1967. FREEMEN, FOX, WILBER SMITH & ASSOC. NOMINATED AS CONSULTANT. SUBMIT ‘HONG KONG MASS TRANSPORT STUDY’

PHILIP HADDON CAVE BECOMES FINANCIAL SECRETARY (1971)
MASS TRANSIT RAILWAY PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY SETUP (1975)

MTRC SETUP, WITH 1.15B HK$ FUNDING
CONSTRUCTION ON KWUN TONG LINE STARTED 1975
1ST OCT 1979, OPERATION STARTED

The Hong Kong Mass Transport Study Report. 1967

Detail Commentary

A gradual population growth till the till the mid '30s. Then a strong spurt due to the Sino-Japan war in China (1937).
The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong (1941-45) shows a sharp population decline, which is drastically revised by 1950.
The great leap forward (1958), cultural revolution (1966-) all added to the exponential growth of Hong Kong population
Amidst the turmoil of the mass migration, by the mid 1960, it was apparent that a Mass transit system was imperative. Freeman, Fox, Wilber, Smith & Associated (Who was designing railway systems globally, in Africa, Asia, Australia) was nominated as the consultant to undertake the study. Their study was tabled in a Report named ‘HONG KONG MASS TRANSPORT STUDY' completed, tabled in 1967. However, there was no appetite to implement this, by then Financial Secretary,J ohn James Cowperthwaite
Fortuitously, Philip Haddon Cave had become the financial secretary in 1971, and fully backed the formation of the Mass Transit Railway
Fastforward, few iterations of the above design were made, before the design was forwarded for implementation. Read more here.

Consultant for the Original MTR Kwun Tong Line

Both Freeman Fox as Engineers, and Design Research Unit (DRU) as the Architect, were responsible for designing mass transit station around the world at this time, impacting the urbanisations & the growth of cities, after the second world war.

They were the consultant's for both the Mass Transport Study as well as the later designs.

As a sidebar, Freeman Fox argued against heavy metro system for the Manila Metro, which was arguably not the best recommendation for the city? Something which they have since been fighting hard to rectify.

Review of the Hong Kong Mass Transport Study Report

Fig. Abv. Corresponding Plan from the HK Mass Transit Study

Fig. Right. Some prophetic statement from the study

Commentary on the above extract:

41. Recommendation to increase the development potential of any vacant site, maximise this to achieve high density. It needs to be stated that the major update to the HK Town planning ordinance was undertaken in 1974. Around the same time that the first MTR was being designed.

42. The recommendation for direct access to the most intensive land use is also graphically represented by the drawing above and below.

43. The integration of transit system into the new town development mooted. The earlier new town at Tsuen Wan and other areas did not have any such facilities.

44. This recommendation draws upon the need to make the system more symbiotic with the surrounding developments, which was taking place in Hong Kong. The hint to move the ticket halls from the station to the surrounding development is interesting, possibly to innovative, even for today.

Fig. Section from the HK Mass Transit Study

The DRU section above shows the potential proposed by their study in 1967.

The massive underground MTR Station interchange
Connected to the underground street above
That links to the podium retail development on two side of the road
Finally, vertically linking with the residential towers above.

At the time of these aspirational design, there were few cities around the world where these high-density practices were being implemented, possibly the exception of Tokyo & Hong Kong, albeit HK without the mass transit.

The Modified Initial System

Japan agreed to complete the task of constructing the whole MTR ‘initial system’ at fixed price of HK$ 5 billion (~10% of then GDP).
"Jan. 1975: final meeting with the JPNC and the government. The JPNC asked 40% increase in price. Having refused, the JPNC unilaterally annulled the letter of intent, and offered ex-gratia apology money of HK$5 million. The colonial government refused to take the money, and Haddon-Cave accused JPNC of guilty of serious error of judgement’ and ‘in bad faith'. Mizuoka 2007.
The Modified Initial System (MIS) line was a value engineered design, system, driven by patronage & cost increase.

These stations have since had a name change. Argyle to Mong Kok, Waterloo to Mong Kok and Chater to Central

The M train or the Metro Cammell EMU.

The workhorse that was chosen for the new HK MTR. One of the first, high capacity, high voltage (DC), rolling stock that was required due to the huge projected patronage forecasted for the MTR. Each car carries almost 3000 passengers, while the line can transport around 90,000 passenger per hour

Before & during the Modified Initial System study, the authorities then insisted on this type of rolling stock and capacity, despite the need for cost cutting.

Lets now look at the urbanisation of Hong Kong , which was taking place at the same time as the Hong Kong MTR was being conceived.

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