Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation

The Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC; Traditional Chinese: 九廣鐵路公司) was established in 1982 under the Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation Ordinance for the purposes of operating the Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR), and to construct and operate other new railways. On 2 December 2007, the MTR Corporation Limited, another railway operator in Hong Kong, took over the operation of the KCR network under a 50-year service concession agreement, which can be extended. Under the service concession, KCRC retains ownership of the KCR network with the MTR Corporation Limited making annual payments to KCRC for the right to operate the network. The KCRC is wholly owned by the Hong Kong Government and its activities are governed by the KCRC Ordinance as amended in 2007 by the Rail Merger Ordinance to enable the service concession agreement to be entered into with the MTR Corporation Limited.

History

Summary

From 1910 to 1982, the KCR network was operated as a department of the Hong Kong Government. The Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation was created in December 1982 after the government decided to corporatise its railway department. Until 2007, the KCR owned and operated a network of heavy rail, light rail and feeder bus routes within Kowloon and the New Territories. It was also a land developer by utilising its property development rights atop and around railway stations and depots. In December 2007, it ceased railway operations, with its business becoming primarily that of earning revenue from being the holder of railway assets. While it continues to own the rail network, the network is operated by the MTR Corporation under a 50-year service concession, for which the MTR Corporation Limited makes annual payments to KCR.

Kowloon–Canton Railway

The Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR; Traditional Chinese: 九廣鐵路) is a railway network in Hong Kong. It is owned, and was operated by the Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation until 2007. It provides rapid transit services, a light rail system and feeder bus routes within Hong Kong, and intercity passenger and freight train services to Mainland China.

While still owned by its previous operator, Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation which is wholly owned by the Hong Kong Government, the network has been operated by the MTR Corporation Limited under a 50-year, extendible, service concession since 2 December 2007. Steps have been taken to assimilate the network into the same faring system of the MTR, and gates between the two networks were removed in several stages in 2008.

In 2006, the local KCR passenger train network (i.e. intercity services excluded) recorded an annual ridership of 544 million.

History

Before 1949

After the Chinese civil war and the victory of the Communists in mainland China in 1949, through-trains were no longer able to cross the border until the service was resumed in 1979.

Guangzhou-Kowloon Through Train

The Guangzhou-Kowloon Through Train (simplified Chinese: 广九直通车 or 港穗直通车; traditional Chinese: 廣九直通車 or 港穗直通車; pinyin: Guǎngjiǔ Zhítōngchē or Găngsuì Zhítōngchē) is an inter-city railway service between Hong Kong and Guangzhou jointly operated by the MTR Corporation of Hong Kong and the Ministry of Railways of the People's Republic of China. Services operate along the East Rail Line within Hong Kong territory, crossing the Hong Kong-Chinese border at Lo Wu, and continuing along the Guangzhou–Shenzhen Railway in Guangdong province.

Twelve trains run in each direction every day, with a journey time of 1 hour 40 minutes.

The MTRC operates the KTT service on this route. The KTT service is provided by double decker trains, usually comprising two Premium Class carriages and five First Class carriages. A Chinese operator provides the other trains on this route.

Places served by the MTRC Guangzhou-Kowloon Through Train include:

Kowloon

Kowloon (/ˌkaʊˈluːn/; Chinese: 九龍; Jyutping: gau²lung⁴; Hong Kong Chinese: Giu³lung²) is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It is bordered by the Lei Yue Mun strait in the east, Mei Foo Sun Chuen and Stonecutter's Island in the west, the mountain range including Tate's Cairn and Lion Rock in the north, and Victoria Harbour in the south. It had a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of 43,033/km² in 2006. Kowloon is located north of Hong Kong Island and south of the mainland part of the New Territories. The peninsula's area is approximately 47 square kilometres (18 sq mi). Together with Hong Kong Island, they contain 48 percent of Hong Kong's total population.

The systematic transcription Kau Lung or Kau-lung was often used in derived place names before World War II, for example Kau-lung Bay instead of Kowloon Bay. Other spellings include Kauloong and Kawloong.

History

The name Kowloon stems from the term Nine Dragons, which refers to eight mountains and a Chinese emperor: Kowloon Peak, Tung Shan, Tate's Cairn, Temple Hill, Unicorn Ridge, Lion Rock, Beacon Hill, Crow's Nest and Emperor Bing of Song.

Kowloon Station (MTR)

Kowloon is a station on the Tung Chung Line and the Airport Express of Hong Kong's MTR. The station provides in-town check-in service for passengers departing from the Hong Kong International Airport and free shuttle bus services to most major hotels in the Tsim Sha Tsui and Yau Ma Tei areas.

The station is located less than a kilometre west of Jordan Station on the Tsuen Wan Line.

Escalators link Elements directly with the station concourse.

History

The station was designed by TFP Farrells. During the planning stage, it was called West Kowloon Station (Chinese: 西九龍站).

On 16 September 2000, the new shopping mall "Dickson CyberExpress" (Chinese: 迪生數碼世界) was opened by Dickson Poon. The size was 70,000 square feet (6,500 m²) spread over four levels of the station with six shopping areas. However, the mall did not have the expected volume of customers and business was weak. After half a year, the mall shrank its size. The mall management company planned to decrease the level of the mall from 4 levels to 3 levels and to combine some of the shopping areas. Business remained poor due to sparse population near the station and a recession at that time. The mall finally closed its operation in 2005.

Kowloon (disambiguation)

Kowloon is an urban area that is part of Hong Kong, China.

Kowloon may also refer to:

Places

Kowloon, Hong Kong