The main maintenance depot for the MTR East Rail line located at Ho Tung Lau, north of Sha Tin, has a long history dating back almost 60 years. So let’s take a look around the depot today, as well as back in time to see how it came to be.
A look around Ho Tung Lau Depot
The main entrance to Ho Tung Lau Depot is from Au Pui Wan Street, on the west side of Fo Tan station, but you can’t see much from there.
But from the platforms at Fo Tan station you can peer into the darkness towards the train wash and workshop sheds.
But there is a better view from Racecourse station on the eastern side of the depot.
Which faces the stabling sidings.
But the best view is from the southern end of the depot, where a footbridge links Fo Tan station to the Shing Mun River.
Where you can see locomotives stabled in the ‘perway’ yard.
Some early history
The name Ho Tung Lau (Chinese: 何東樓) was first given to a mansion built on reclaimed land beside the Kowloon Canton Railway on the shore of Sha Tin Hoi in 1923 by Ho Sai Wing, adopted son of Hong Kong businessman Robert Hotung.
Between 1938 and 1949 the mansion was leased to the Fo Shan Wah Ying College (Chinese: 佛山華英中學), who were later known as Wah Kiu College (Chinese: 華橋工商學院), who later become part of the Chinese University Of Hong Kong.
The mansion then acquired in 1949 by the Royal Air Force, who established Arcullis Camp on the site, to accompany the nearby airbase at Sha Tin Hoi named Sha Tin Airfield in 1949. The base remained in operation until it was damaged by Typhoon Wanda in 1962, with the RAF deciding to relocate to Shek Kong.
With the Ho Tung Lau site now empty the government reclaimed the area for development, with KCR staff quarters and a new locomotive maintenance centre built on the site between 1965 and 1968 – replacing steam-era facilities located at Hung Hom, and making way for the new Kowloon station.
Ho Tung Lau mansion was eventually demolished in the late 1970s, as further land was reclaimed to facilitate the maintenance centre’s expansion as part of the electrification of the Kowloon Canton Railway between 1979 and 1983.
Including new electric running sheds located east of the existing diesel locomotive depot, in what became known as the ‘North Depot’.
And airspace developments
In conjunction with the Hong Kong government’s decision to develop the airspace above the depot in 1979, a larger workshop area known as the ‘South Depot’ was built at Ho Tung Lau. Construction commenced in 1980 and was completed in 1982, with the podium and access roads handed over to winning developer Cheung Kong Holdings in 1982.
The first residents of the resulting ‘Jubilee Garden‘ (Chinese: 銀禧花園) housing estate took residence in 1985, with the eight 38 storey high-rise residential blocks (Blocks 1 to 8) and a single six storey tall duplex residential building (Jubilee Court) completed in 1986, with a total of 2,260 units.
The next development atop the depot commenced in 1990 with the airspace development of the North Depot, which was rebuilt between 1993 and 1996.
On top Sun Hung Kai Properties developed the ‘Royal Ascot‘ (Chinese: 駿景園) housing estate rising 32 to 47 storeys high – phase one (Blocks 1 to 7, without Block 4) occupied in 1995, followed by phase two (Blocks 8 to 11) occupied in 1996, with a total of 2,504 units.
The Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation also decided to build a new headquarters building at Ho Tung Lau, with construction of the eight storey tall KCRC House (Chinese: 九广铁路公司大楼) commenced in 1992 and completed in 1994 atop the tracks opposite Fo Tan Station.
And the final development atop the depot commenced in 1996, when the airspace atop the engineering vehicle yard was sold to Sun Hung Kai Properties for “Royal Ascot Phase 3”. This project fell through in 1998, with the site laying empty until 2002 when the project was re-tendered, the new winner being Sino Land. Demolition of the depot beneath commenced in 2003.
The resulting development named ‘The Palazzo‘ (Chinese: 御龍山) was completed in 2009 – with ten towers rising 57 to 65 storeys high, providing a total of 1,375 residential units.
Further reading
- Railway-related property development: The Arup Journal 3/2007
- Jubilee Garden at Wikipedia
- Royal Ascot at Wikipedia
- The Palazzo at Wikipedia
- MTR Ho Tung Lau Depot at Wikipedia (Chinese language)
- Fo Tan Railway House at Wikipedia (Chinese language)
