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SCMP Reporter

THE KCRC's East Rail is to increase services to try to win legislators' support for the controversial Ma On Shan link.

 Chairman Yeung Kai-yin said the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation was also considering allowing some of the proposed Ma On Shan services to extend to Kowloon Tong.

 An $8.5 billion funding proposal for the link, together with a line from Hunghom to Tsim Sha Tsui, was withdrawn in July after the Democratic Party, The Frontier and the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) threatened to vote down the application.

 They said the link should extend to Kowloon instead of terminating at Tai Wai.

 Mr Yeung said East Rail now ran 20 times an hour, but the frequency could be pushed to 27 after existing signal, brake and acceleration systems were upgraded.

 New carriages with fewer seats would increase capacity by 15 per cent from 3,250 to 3,750.

 The combined effect would be to increase overall capacity 38 per cent to 90,000 passengers an hour.

 'The trains are only 60 to 70 per cent full at the peak hour around 8am. There is still room to accommodate passengers from a Ma On Shan link,' he said. 'The increase in capacity could address legislators' fears that passengers from the Ma On Shan link might not be able to get on East Rail.'  Mr Yeung said he personally did not want to extend the Ma On Shan link to Kowloon Tong by using the existing East Rail track.

 The proposed light-rail system consists of four-compartment trains, while an East Rail train has 12 compartments.

 Legislator Lau Kong-wah, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, cast doubt on whether the expansion of capacity could cope with the increase in population of Ma On Shan.

 The Government estimates the new town's population will rise from 330,000 to 490,000 by 2010.

 Mr Lau said a new connection between Tai Wai and Kowloon was needed. 'The extension should be included in the Government's second railway development study. It will be worthwhile for the public to wait another year for the consultation,' he said.

 Democrat Andrew Cheng Kar-foo said the party would reject the plan unless the rail was extended to Kowloon.

 The 11.4km rail link, including nine stations and a depot, was scheduled to be completed in 2004.

 The passenger flow for East Rail is now 750,000 a day, while the flow for the Ma On Shan link will probably be between 290,000 and 340,000 by 2011.

 Deputy Secretary for Transport Kevin Ho Chi-ming has said an extension from Tai Wai to Kowloon will probably be needed by 2011, but declined to commit to it.



East Rail to boost service in bid to win link backing