Full steam ahead on express track

Construction of the Airport Railway is in full swing, and overall the project is now more than 30 per cent complete.

The railway will provide a fast and comfortable Airport Express Service between Central and the new airport at Chek Lap Kok.

A domestic service, known as the Lantau Line, will have four stops between Central and Tung Chung New Town, and through an interchange at Lai King will help to relieve passenger pressure on the MTR's Tsuen Wan Line.

One recent milestone in the construction was the start of track-laying. This marked the transition from the end of civil works to the beginning of system-wide installation of rails, signalling system, power supply, overhead line electrification, communications and other electrical/mechanical works.

Seven kilometres of track formation on Lantau and one kilometre in West Kowloon are available for work. Earlier a 1.7 kilometre tunnel was drilled through Tsing Yi Island, and workers are busy setting up the deck of the double-decker bridge across the Rambler Channel.

So far, four out of a total of 10 tunnel units of the immersed tube tunnel have been placed in position in Victoria Harbour.