Transporting the Hong Kong SAR into the New Millennium: The KCR West Rail Experience

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with about 6200 people per square kilometre. Over the next decade, the population will further increase by 1.2 million to more than 8 million. Newly developed areas in the New Territories will see the fastest population growth. This rapid population build-up will require a quantum jump in the provision of public transport to meet the demand of Hong Kong's highly mobile population, who make a total of 13 million passenger trips a day. It was against this background that the plan for a mass transit railway linking Urban Kowloon and North West New Territories was conceived in 1994. After strategy development, feasibility studies, drawing up proposals, technical studies, and detailed design, the Executive Council of the HKSAR gave the final authorisation in September 1998 for the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCR) to proceed with the construction of West Rail.