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THE Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC) may make it easier for passengers to take luggage onto its rail network once the airport railway starts operating in 1997.

  The plan has been prompted by the realisation that air travellers could find it more convenient to travel to the airport using the existing MTR system rather than changing from other forms of transport.

  People living in Tai Koo, Kwun Tong and other parts of eastern Hong Kong will find it considerably cheaper and easier to take the MTR system all the way to the airport rather than use taxis or shuttle buses.

  The MTRC will make it more convenient because it plans to build a massive air-conditioned subway connecting the existing Central station with a new station for the airport and North Lantau commuter railway.

  The subway, which will have a capacity of 40,000 passengers an hour, is particularly aimed at people travelling from Lantau and Kowloon on the Lantau line who need to change to the Island line.

  But the MTRC acknowledges it will provide an easy connection for passengers bound for the airport.

  On present fare levels it will cost at least $300 to take a taxi from Tai Koo to Chek Lap Kok airport, while a combination of express train and taxi would set travellers back about $100.

  But taking the MTR from Tai Koo all the way to the airport will only cost $56.

  ''There has been a lot of discussion internally about this issue,'' an MTRC engineer said.

  ''The current thinking is that most people will use taxis to get to the in-town check-in facilities at Central or Kowloon stations so they can drop their luggage off before travelling to the airport on the express rail link.

  ''Visitors are expected to take the train to Kowloon or Central and then change to special shuttle buses to their hotels. Even if they are staying as far away as Causeway Bay the assumption is they will change at Central and use the shuttle buses.''   But there is no guarantee the in-town check-in will actually go ahead.

  ''There are internal reservations about it because it gobbles up such an enormous amount of space,'' the engineer said.

  Consequently the MTR becomes even more of an attractive proposition because there would be no need to take a taxi to Central.

  ''The MTR is so reliable and frequent that you could guarantee to be at the airport from Tai Koo in about 45 minutes,'' said a railway source.

  Trains for the airport express are being specially designed to handle the extra amount of baggage, but there are no such facilities on existing trains or stations.

   Since the mass transit system opened in 1979, the MTRC has opposed passengers bringing luggage onto its trains for safety and capacity reasons. That is why there are no special channels for baggage at ticket turnstiles.

  But this ban will be impossible to enforce once the airport railway comes into service.



MTR may allow luggage