Workers help lay an expensive new type of railway track being used in Hong Kong for the first time to reduce noise from trains on the MTR's Tseung Kwan O extension.
MTR project manager Henry Lam Hing-cheung said the main feature of the tracks was their ability to reduce train noise and vibration.
'We decided to apply such a track form to tracks lying next to buildings,' Mr Lam said. He said the new tracks, which were developed in Germany and have a life expectancy of more than 50 years, were laid at all station platforms on the new line, as well as in populated areas of Tseung Kwan O and Hang Hau.
The tracks total about 8km, and 12,000 square metres of rubber matting will also be installed.
Mr Lam said 85 per cent of the tracks had been laid and he expected the process, which will cost about $320 million, to be completed by January, after which overhead cables will be installed.
The line is expected to begin operating by the third quarter of next year.