$84m Tai Po Market station upgrade will take 18 months but improve conditions
The KCRC began renovation work on Tai Po Market station yesterday, part of an estimated $1 billion upgrade to every East Rail station that is expected to take 10 more years to complete.
And although passengers will be inconvenienced for about 18 months, the rail operator says the $84 million upgrade will be worth it in the end.
'The ceilings will be higher, the interior design more sophisticated and the station less hot with the introduction of a spot-cooling system,' traffic operations manager Fred Lam Yun-fu said.
Most East Rail stations were built in the 1980s and do not have air conditioning. Adding the cooling systems should keep passengers a few degrees cooler.
An antique steam locomotive with 100 years of history will be displayed in the lobby. The narrow-gauge steam locomotive once serviced the Shataukok branch line in the early days until 1928.
All 13 stores inside the station will close for a year but could come back bigger with the company more than doubling the amount of commercial space.
