China’s high speed rail network is the biggest in the world, but not all of it is dedicated to high speed trains – on some routes conventional trains also share the tracks.
Combined traffic
Shanghai Railway Station was the first I came across. Once the main railway station for the city, today it mainly sees locomotive hauled long distance trains.
Along with a handful of CRH high-speed services – the fastest trains now use Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station to the west of the city.
Passenger dedicated line refers to the railway system that only runs passenger trains and technical operation trains. There are many types of passenger dedicated lines, which are generally divided into railway trunk lines (铁路干线), inter-regional railways (区际铁路), inter-city rails (城际轨道交通) and suburban city express (市域快铁) trains according to the railway administrative nature.
China’s passenger lines have two major classes:
Class 1: high-speed rail passengers (high-speed passenger line), the railway ranks on the high-speed rail. China stipulates that the high-speed railway is a high-speed (with a speed limit of 250 km/h) passenger line, which is its technical standard and functional positioning, while the passenger-vehicle dual-purpose railway with a speed of 250 km/h is a fast-speed railway.
Class 2: Fast-speed passenger-class (fast passenger line), which is a passenger dedicated line (the city express train and some inter-city railways , such as the Dagang Express Railway and the Changsha-Zhuzhou-City Intercity Railway ) , which is lower than the 250 km/h speed bottom line standard of the high-speed railway.
Ever since construction started on the MTR Shatin to Central Link project, I’ve had one big question – how would the two new lines interface at Hung Hom station, and interface with the new and existing tunnels?
MTR diagram
The Sha Tin to Central link (abbreviated SCL; Chinese: 沙中線) consists of two new railway lines:
Phase 1 from Tai Wai station in the New Territories to Hung Hom station in Kowloon, connecting the Ma On Shan line and West Rail line forming the Tuen Ma line, codenamed “East West Corridor”.
Phase 2 from Hung Hom station to Admiralty station on Hong Kong Island as an extension of the East Rail line, codenamed the “North South Corridor”.
Four new underground platforms are being built to serve the new railway lines.
MTR artist impression
These newly built platforms will be clean and bright.
MTR artist impression
Compared to the dark and dingy platforms used by passengers today.
8-car long trains on the East West Corridor will use the island platform on the top level, with 9-car long trains on the North South Corridor using the island platform below below.
MTR diagram
This arrangement allow the North South Corridor to pass under Victoria Harbour via a new immersed tube tunnel.
The new platforms are located next door to the existing platforms at Hung Hom.
Allowing construction to continue without disrupting rail services.
But is a challenging process, in a confined space located beneath the existing station podium.
With deep excavations beneath the station and podium and the close proximity of the works to existing structures, all construction works for SCL 1112 have to be carefully considered in advance and assessed for their potential impact on the integrity and safety of the structures above.
At an overall station depth of approximately 15 m below ground, the deep excavations require ground support. Diaphragm walls are the primary form of ground support and also form the permanent station walls. The diaphragm wall construction technique used provides an effective groundwater cut-off during excavation and offers robust protection to the existing structures.
Another main challenge at Hung Hom is that the headroom available beneath the podium structure is relatively low, making construction works more difficult. Specialised plant and equipment was required to construct these diaphragm walls, excavating the soil down to competent rock. Once the excavation is completed, steel reinforcement cages were installed to give the panel the required strength. Each of these reinforcement cages can only be installed in 4m-long sections due to height restraints beneath the podium, and so a considerable number of these cages had to be joined together to create a single panel. Such works took considerable time and was labour intensive. Once the cages were installed, concrete is placed in the panel and then that panel is complete.
In a number of locations beneath the podium the required SCL alignment conflicts with the maze of existing podium foundation columns. To remove these column’s sophisticated jacking systems are required to transfer the existing podium loads onto new foundation structures, clear of the SCL alignment, before the existing foundations can be removed. The structures, new and old, are monitored 24-hours per day to alert the construction teams of any potential concerns which may affect the safety of the structures.
New tracks will tie the underground platforms to the existing network.
Following the completion of the East Rail Line extension across the Victoria Harbour, the current platforms 1-4 will be converted for use by Intercity Through Trains.
The shunting track for platform 1-4 was dismantled to allow the construction of the East Tsim Sha Tsui extension in 2001, followed by the removal of the connection between platform 2 and the current East Rail Line with the opening of the Kowloon Southern Link in 2009.
The track to these platforms will be reconfigured following the opening of the East West Coridoor, and the locomotive traverser will be modified to be suitable for long-body locomotives such as the HXD1D.
But my theory – two platforms are more than enough to cater for Intercity Through Trains, so no modification works will be carried out – platforms 1 though 4 will instead be sealed off from public access and then abandoned.
And a footnote on stabling sidings
Another Shatin to Central Link project activity at Hung Hom station are the Hung Hom Stabling Sidings, occupying the former Hung Hom Freight Yard, under an existing podium structure.
Thirteen tracks will be provided in the new sidings to permit stabling, cleaning and inspection of trains, with full maintenance facilities located at Pat Heung and Tai Wai depots.
A long way off the beaten tourist track of Shanghai is an unusual mode of transport – the Zhangjiang Tram.
It looks a little like a normal light rail system.
With a track running down the middle of the road, and overhead wires to supply electric power.
And platforms for intending passengers.
But the vehicles run on rubber tyres, guided by a central rail.
So are legally considered motor vehicles, and have registration plates affixed to the front.
The 10 km (6.2 mi) line runs from Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park Station on Shanghai Metro Line 2 to Heqing Town, with 15 stops along the way. Construction of the Zhangjiang Tram started in December 2007, with the first tram running in December 2009. The Translohr system was originally developed by Lohr Industrie of France.
A note on the track
The trackwork for a Translohr system differs to standard tram tracks.
The pair of rubber tyres leave scuff marks behind.
Beneath each vehicle are a pair of guide wheels arranged in a ‘v’ shape.
There are many interchange stations on Hong Kong’s MTR, but the connection between Tsim Sha Tsui station on the Tsuen Wan line and East Tsim Sha Tsui station on the West Rail line has to take the cake as the most complicated.
As soon as you exit the ticket gates at East Tsim Sha Tsui station, a wall of signage offers a world of destinations – so checking the station map is a good start!
And a labyrinth of pedestrians subways connecting the two stations.
Some of which feature travelators to speed your passage, or reduce the amount of walking required.
And assigned colours to tell them apart. There is the ‘Green Zone’.
A ‘Yellow Zone’.
And the ominous sounding ‘Red Zone’.
Along with an unbranded section beneath Nathan Road.
Which hopefully leads you to Tsim Sha Tsui station.
And a ticketing footnote
The subways linking the two Tsim Sha Tsui stations is outside the ticket gates, so someone using a ‘Single Journey Ticket’ cannot use it for a free transfer. This is because single journey tickets are retained by the fare gates on exiting the station.
But Octopus card holders don’t necessarily get a free transfer either – the fine print on the Octopus card fare table has the following conditions:
Separate entry and exit gates are installed at Tsim Sha Tsui and East Tsim Sha Tsui stations. Octopus users who interchange between these two stations within 30 minutes will be considered as having taken one journey.
The full fare for the first sector travelled will be deducted when exiting the first station. The remaining balance of the fare will be deducted upon exit at the final destination. If the total fare is less than the first sector charged, a refund of the amount over-deducted will be credited to the Octopus at the final exit gate. However, any same station entry and exit trip at these two stations will be treated as a separate journey, and not form a part of an interchange journey, with a separate fare.
Passengers are reminded not to use the same Octopus on other transport (including Light Rail, MTR Bus and MTR Feeder Bus) or make more than 9 non-transport related transactions during the 30-minute
interchange interval. Otherwise, full fares for two separate journeys will be charged.
The last line is the interesting bit – it appears that an Octopus card only remembers the last 10 actions, and so making too transactions while changing stations will result in the original station ‘A’ exit record being overwritten, meaning the interchange will not be recognised when entering station ‘B’.
There have been also software bugs in the Octopus card system that have resulted in the interchange discount being incorrectly applied, the most recent in April 2016.
And the same photoshopped view of the Melbourne skyline we saw earlier.
As with my previous post, this property developer gets away with it using a similar wording to last time.
The photographs, images, drawings or sketches shown in this advertisement/promotional material represent an artist’s impression of the development concerned only. They are not drawn to scale and/or may have been edited and processed with computerised imaging techniques. Prospective purchasers should make reference to the sales brochure for details of the development. The vendor also advises prospective purchasers to conduct an on-site visit for a better understanding of the development site, its surrounding environment and the public facilities nearby.
And another cyclist
I pointed out Australia’s mandatory bicycle helmets laws in my last post, and this advert is no different – the cyclists featured are sans helmet.
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