It Happened Here: First underwater harbour train crossing, February 12, 1980
It’s kind of weird to think that prior to February 12, 1980, an only partially completed MTR system hadn’t even crossed the water that divides Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. Though the MTR system had been designed in the early 1970s, and construction started in 1974, the first section of the rapid-transit rail, opened in 1979, only connected Kwun Tong with Shek Kip Mei, and, later, Tsim Sha Tsui. Back then, Central Station was known as Chater Station.
The trains finally started crossing the harbour eight years after the Cross-Harbour road tunnel (now one of the world’s most congested strips of tarmac) opened. At the time, train passengers could travel only between Central and Tsim Sha Tsui, but a full nine years later, the MTR sprouted another bi-coastal limb, this time connecting Kwun Tong and Quarry Bay.
Jinxin Ma
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