East Tsim Sha Tsui (KCRC)

East Tsim Sha Tsui is the latest station (the southern terminus) on the Hong Kong KCRC East Rail, opened on October 24, 2004, symbolizing the comeback of the Rail to Tsim Sha Tsui after 30 years.

The purpose of the station is to reduce traffic jam and the passenger flow of Kowloon Tong Station. The distance from Hung Hom to the Station is about 1km with the journey time of 1.5min. However, the fares are unusually high (e.g., from Sha Tin, the fare to Hung Hom is only HK$5.1 (US$0.65), but the fare to the station is HK$7.6 (US$0.97)). That is why passengers complained that the extension is quite bad. Moreover, there were not enough indications on the trial run day, so KCRC has added more signs inside the station and divided the station into red, green and yellow zones. The welcome signs of Simplified Chinese, French, Japanese and Korean were also added. KCRC is also considering adding more signs of Simplified Chinese at all stations for the convenience of tourists from Mainland China.

Apart from the high fare, the considerable distance between the station and the MTR Tsim Sha Tsui station makes interchanging with the MTR Tsuen Wan Line no easier than changing trains in Kowloon Tong. Nevertheless, a steady amount of passengers decided to use East Tsim Sha Tsui, since changing at Kowloon Tong may involve an extra interchange within the MTR system.

It should be noted that the present use of East Tsim Sha Tsui Station is only temporary. When the West Rail is extended through the Kowloon Southern Link (which has just started construction), the terminus of East Rail would be cut back to Hung Hom again, while East Tsim Sha Tsui Station would be an intermediate station of West Rail.

See also

• Tsim Sha Tsui