Coupling new and old on the East Rail line

Posted on December 21, 2022 by Marcus Wong

A few years ago I found a photo of an original KCR ‘Yellow Head’ EMU coupled up to a refurbished classmate, but here is a more modern example – coupling a Metro Cammell EMU up to a brand new Hyundai Rotem ‘R-Train’ set.


Video by nozomip328

The uploader provides an explanation of why the two trains needed to be coupled.

Around 17:00 on October 13, 2021 the R train (D034-D036 formation) developed a fault at MTR Kowloon Tong Station, which was suspected to be a malfunction of the power supply, and was coupled to the following MLR train, and transferred to Mong Kok East station.

And online news site hk01 published a video showing the defective train.


Photo via hk01

As well as the story behind the fault.

At around 5 pm today (13th), there was a train at Kowloon Tong Station on the MTR East Rail Line, and sparks exploded between the roof of the train and the overhead cables, and the sparks even scattered on the platform. “Hong Kong 01” obtained a short video of the scene taken by an eyewitness. Seeing the sudden explosion of sparks, many passengers on the platform were also shocked. The eyewitness said that the train had sparks popped out at least 3 times.

The MTR said that a train on the East Rail Line broke down near Kowloon Tong Station and affected the power supply system. minute. About 40 minutes later, the MTR announced that the train had been removed from the traffic lane, and the East Rail Line train services gradually returned to normal.

When the MTR responded to the inquiry at night, it stated that a preliminary inspection found that there was a tree branch on the pantograph of one of the trains involved, and it was initially suspected that the tree branch had come into contact with the overhead power unit and caused the accident. The train operation control centre will arrange for the train to return to the depot for detailed inspection and understand the cause of the failure.

Shocking, eh. ⚡

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MTR JMD1200FX diesel electric locomotives

Posted on December 7, 2022 by Marcus Wong

I’ve written about MTR’s fleet of maintenance and work trains before, but it turns out there is one class of diesel electric locomotives I’ve missed – the JMD1200FX units used on the Hong Kong Express Rail Link.


Jiangsu Jinchuang Vehicle Co. photo

The TrainNets.com website (Chinese language) has further details on the JMD1200FX diesel electric locomotives.

The JMD1200FX locomotive is manufactured by Jiangsu Jinchuang Vehicle Co., Ltd. They are used by the MTR Corporation on the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed railway and are based at the Shek Kong Depot. They are numbered 19001-19003.

The bo-bo locomotives have a top speed is 80km/h and can be operated in multiple unit. Starting traction is 269kN and continuous traction is 182kN.

The locomotive features a CAT C32 V12-cylinder diesel engine, with a power of 895kW (1200 horsepower), coupled to a JF205F synchronous main generator produced by China CNR Yongji New Speed ​​Motor Co., Ltd. Overall weight is 80 tonnes.

A single locomotive can pull a 8-carriage high-speed EMUs (empty weight 490t) or double-head a 16-carriage high-speed EMUs (empty weight 980t) on a 3% gradient at 10km/h.

It can also pull a 8-car high-speed EMU (full load 536t) or double-head a 16-car high-speed EMU (full load 1072t) on a 2% gradient at 15km/h.

On level track it can also pull a 8-car high-speed EMU (full load 536t) or double-head a 16-car high-speed EMU (full load 1072t) up to 60km/h.

Sources

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Hong Kong taxi on the streets of Toronto

Posted on November 23, 2022 by Marcus Wong

I’ve written before about Hong Kong double decker buses in Australia, but what about a Hong Kong taxi on the streets of Toronto?


Michael Tsui photo

Hong Kong’s red Toyota Crown Comfort taxis are just as much of the streetscape as double decker buses.

Taxi and a double deck buses on Nathan Road

Be they roaming the streets.

Pack of Hong Kong taxis waiting for a green light

Blocking bus stops.

Hong Kong taxis stopped in a bus zone

Queued up at the airport.

Taxi queuing area to the north of the terminal building

Or on a country road

Hong Kong urban taxi, a Toyota Comfort

But a place you don’t expect to see one is on the streets of Canada.


Michael Tsui photo

Chris Tsui from The Drive explains how it came to be there.

A little background on how this particular Hong Kong taxi found itself on the streets of Toronto, Canada, though. It is, strictly speaking, a replica but quite a good one. Apparently starting out life as a taxi in Japan, it’s a 1997 Toyota Crown Comfort LPG that was shipped over to Toronto to be used as a movie-and-TV prop. Painted red and silver to emulate a taxi from HK, it can be seen briefly in 2013’s Pacific Rim.

In November 2021, current owner Alan Wu bought it and has spent much of the past year restoring and doing it up, getting it to look as much like the real thing as he can.

That means yellow interior stickers in both English and traditional Chinese outlining how much your ride is going to cost and what you are and aren’t allowed to do, a wood-bead cover on the driver’s seat, and that red “TAXI” light that flips up on the dash to let people know whether you’re taking passengers or not. The rooflight actually works. There’s a little device that prints receipts, a red coin box with the word “ECO” printed on it for some reason, and an entire squad of cell phones of varying vintage stuck above the gauge cluster. And the aftermarket audio system was tuned to Chinese talk radio. It really is the full HK taxi experience.

A definite labour of love.

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Farewell to the MTR Phase 2 Light Rail Vehicles

Posted on November 9, 2022 by Marcus Wong

As Hong Kong’s rail network ages, old rolling stock gets replaced by new, and so we now see the first retirements on the MTR Light Rail system – the Phase 2 Light Rail Vehicles.


Kawasaki Heavy Industries photo

The Phase 2 LRVs entered in service in 1992, with 20 cab cars numbered 1071-1090 10 trailers numbered 1201–1210 built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries to almost the same design as the earlier Phase 1 stock. In the mid-1990s they received the blue, red and yellow KCRC livery, and following the 2007 rail merger MTR logos replaced those of the KCR.

Phase II LRV 1076 departs San Hui on route 614P

The years that followed were uneventful, until August 2015 when MTR Corporation announced that new light rail vehicles would be acquired to replace the Phase 2 LRVs. A contract was signed with CRRC Nanjing Puzhen Rolling Stock in July 2016 to purchase a total of 40 new vehicles, 30 to replace the Phase 2 LRVs, and 10 additional units to expand the fleet.

The first of the new Phase 5 LRVs arrived in Hong Kong in December 2018 and entered service in November 2020. Initial plans would see the last Phase 2 LRV withdrawn in 2023, but delays in the commissioning of the new vehicles saw the older ones kept in service longer than expected.

The first Phase 2 LRVs were withdrawn in August 2022, when vehicles #1079 and #1204 were loaded onto trucks at Tuen Mun Depot, and transported to the scrap yard.

Due to delays in the commissioning of the Phase 5 LRVs, not expected to be fully operational until 2025, the reminder of the Phase 2 fleet still have some time until they are also withdrawn.

Footnote: what about refurbishments?

Back in 2008 the MTR contracted United Group to refurbish 68 Phase 1 light rail vehicles.

Phase I LRV 1023 on Castle Peak Road in Yuen Long

So why didn’t the Phase 2 LRVs get the same treatment?

Some sources say “cost-benefit considerations” made buying new light rail vehicles cheaper than refurbishing them, and given there were only 30 vehicles in the Phase 2 fleet, that is possible.

However some suggest that the Phase 3 LRVs will get refurbished rather than scrapped, and that is a class of just 20 vehicles – so who really knows.

Further reading

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KCR ‘Yellow Head’ trains at the MTR Kowloon Bay Depot

Posted on October 26, 2022 by Marcus Wong

I found an interesting photo recently – multiple KCR ‘yellow head’ trains lined up in the sheds at the MTR’s Kowloon Bay Depot. So what were they doing there?


Heather Coulson photo

Well, Chinese-language Wikipedia has come to the rescue.

After the first batch of trains arrived in Hong Kong on 12 April 1981, they were assembled at the MTR Kowloon Bay Depot, then the assembled trains were transported to the Kowloon Canton Railway Kowloon Depot (now Hung Hom Depot) by trucks.

And over on the “Hong Kong Discuss Forum” (香港討論區) a poster shared some photos of these road movements, reproduced from a 1987 edition of KCRC’s internal publication “Voice of Railways”.

Footnote: an abandoned connection

At the time the Mass Transit Railway was being built, it was proposed that a temporary connection to the Kowloon Canton Railway would be built at Kowloon Tong Station for the transport of trains between the two systems. However the connection was never completed, the only trace being a small stub in the westbound Kwun Tong line tunnel.


Mass Transit Railway Protection Plan, Shek Kip Mei to Kowloon Tong – Drawing MTR/RP/11

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