MTR says own tunnel needed
The MTR Corporation yesterday echoed the government's opposition to a proposal that a new rail line from Sha Tin to Central be built beneath the Central-Wan Chai bypass in the same tunnel 'tube' to minimise temporary harbour reclamation for construction work.
In a paper submitted to the Harbourfront Enhancement Committee, it proposed the rail line's cross-harbour section cross over the bypass tunnel in a separate tube. The proposal would require the temporary reclamation of 2.2 hectares from Victoria Harbour in the Causeway Bay typhoon shelter and off Hung Hom.
Harbourfront watchers are concerned that starting work on the road and railway at different times will extend the time and reclamation it takes to build them.
The Society for the Protection of the Harbour has mounted a series of legal challenges to the plans. A judge has confirmed the temporary reclamation must meet the condition of 'overriding public need' required for permanent reclamation.
In May the society suggested putting the rail link beneath the bypass, in the same tube, and only temporary reclamation.
The tube-sharing option would involve less reclamation - between 0.6 and two hectares. But the company said it would occupy the typhoon shelter for 18 months longer, require much deeper dredging and involve higher construction costs, risks and complexity than building the road and railway separately. While the typhoon shelter is being used for building work, vessels moored there will have to move.
Hung Wing-tat, who researches transport and traffic models at Polytechnic University, said the MTR Corp's proposal was acceptable, even though it involved more reclamation, as the railway would go farther south into the built-up parts of Causeway Bay.
'This is a more sustainable option socially and financially because [it] would be more accessible and serve more passengers. Keeping the railway underneath the bypass along the waterfront would keep it away from the populated areas,' said Dr Hung, who is also director of the Conservancy Association.
Winston Chu Ka-sun, adviser to the Society for the Protection of the Harbour, said the road and railway projects should be planned together to minimise reclamation, construction time and costs. He did not say whether the society would launch a legal challenge. In May, he refused to rule out legal action.
The project will go through consultation sessions with the public and district councils before being gazetted by the end of the year. Work is expected to start in 2011.
