Site visit presentation: Kwun Tong Line Extension

Yau Ma Tei Station to Whampoa Tunnel, and Ho Man Tin Station - 25th October

The site visit was initiated by APM HK branch and jointly organised with the Hong Kong Institute of Construction Managers (HKICM). There were 20 attendees on the day.

Delegate gathered bright and early at the site entrance near Fat Kwong Street at 9:00am where Mr. Wilfredo D. Nicanor from Nishimatsu Construction Limited then welcomed us to the site office. The deputy project manager, Mr Tony Shield, warmly welcomed all visitors from APM and HKICM at board meeting room. He gave a very interesting presentation of Kwun Tong Line Extension (KTE) project to all participants before the site visit commenced.

Nishimatsu Construction Co. Ltd and MTR Corporation are seriously committed to the project safety and strictly follow their project safety plan, crisis management plan, emergency action plan & lifting plan at the construction site. All participants were given a quick health & safety induction before the site walk in the tunnel. After this, both APM and HKICM representatives presented a souvenir to Mr. Tony Shield and other supporting staff for the site visit from Nishimatsu and expressed sincere thanks to Mr. Shield, all staff and all participants.

The site walk started at 10:15am and finished successfully at 12:00 noon. We were firstly introduced to the construction manager and had a bird's-eye view of the HOM Station construction at the north side. The HOM Station construction at KTE level was completed and the superstructure was on its way up to the ground level. The construction manager also introduced us different access routes to the future HOM station and explained the forthcoming construction sequence of the station.

water proofing All participants were then brought to the entrance of the tunnel and were taken down to the tunnel via builders lift. We were shown the construction inside the WAB & FKP shaft. We were shown the lining and civil works inside the tunnel as well as the construction of platforms, railway line foundation works and rail track works. We were brought to the eastern small cavern of the HOM Station and we were given an explanation of how the lining was constructed in order to prevent water leakage into the tunnel with large piece of orange-coloured plastic membrane. The depth of the tunnel was 44m underground and the size of the tunnel shaft was around 17m by 12m wide.

tunnel The Mass Transit Railway (MTR) Corporation has long been planning to launch the Kwun Tong Line Extension project (KTE) to alleviate the serious traffic congestion around Ho Man Tin, Hung Hom and Whampoa areas because of the frequent traffic jams from the Cross Harbour Tunnel during peak hours. MTR was authorised to proceed with the project in 2010 and the construction works of the new railway line commenced in 2011.

The alignment of KTE will be extended from the existing Yau Ma Tei MTR Station to Whampoa via Ho Man Tin with the addition of 2 new stations.

The contract for construction of the new Ho Man Tin Station and tunnel from Yau Ma Tei to Whampoa was awarded to Nishimatsu Construction Company Limited. Chun Wo Hip Hing joint venture is in charge of the construction contract of Whampoa Station and the overrun tunnel. The project is currently underway at a cost of around HK$5.3 billion (in December 2009).

delegates on 25th October This site visit took us to see the Ho Man Tin Station construction work, followed by the Yau Ma Tei to Whampoa Tunnel, HMT Station cavern and a general view of the tunnelling and station works. The site-visit was successfully completed at 12:00 noon on 25th October 2014.