Hong Kong Peak Tram’s final day before lengthy closure draws hundreds, many queuing for hours for swansong ride on classic carriages
- Tram’s burgundy carriages are being decommissioned under HK$700 million upgrade that involves shutting the attraction for six months
- Hundreds queue on Sunday for farewell rides on the burgundy carriages, which have ferried nearly 140 million up and down Victoria Peak since 1989
Hongkongers queued for hours on Sunday to take a final ride on the iconic burgundy carriages of the city’s iconic funicular railway before the attraction’s six-month closure as part of a HK$700 million (US$90 million) upgrade.
The Peak Tramways Company’s fifth generation of carriages are being retired on Monday after ferrying nearly 140 million passengers up and down Victoria Peak since coming into service in 1989.
The lower terminus at Garden Road in Central was swamped from Sunday morning with local families, tram fans and amateur photographers taking pictures of almost everything bearing the Peak Tram logo.
Some 600 were waiting in a queue that at one point reached as far as Hong Kong Squash Centre next to Hong Kong Park.
Once aboard, most passengers jostled for a window seat to ensure they did not miss the striking view of the city as the tram climbed the extreme gradient of Hong Kong Island’s highest point for the last time in months.
Among those towards the front of the queue at the Garden Road terminus was Maria Chan, 30, who was taking her Sha Tin parents on the steepest of jaunts.