The MTR’s South Island Line (East) will start running at the end of the year, the chair of MTR Corporation Frederick Ma Si-hang has said.
The new MTR line connects Admiralty station to the southern part of Hong Kong Island.
Ma made the announcement at the opening ceremony of MTR Academy on Thursday. The exact date will be announced later, he said.
The MTRC chair previously said that the line may be delayed by up to three months, due to construction difficulties at Admiralty Station.
Lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun said that, according to his knowledge, the South Island Line (East) has entered its testing phase, and is estimated to open on December 25.
Tien said he was concerned that waiting times to board already-crowded trains at Admiralty will become even longer during rush hour as the station becomes busier.
The lawmaker expressed hope that the MTR Corporation will speed up the new signaling system – which will not be completed until 2018 – and implement a discount period after 7pm to ease the flow during peak times.
The line will connect Admiralty, Ocean Park, Wong Chuk Hang, Lei Tung and South Horizons, with an estimated 11 minutes of travel time between Admiralty and South Horizons.
Documents previously sent to LegCo by the MTR Corporation indicated that the South Island Line (East) would have to speed up the construction at Admiralty station or there would be a big chance that the line would not be able to open according to schedule, according to RTHK.
