Tunnel boring machines could be used instead of cut and cover construction to build US$1.3bn 4.5km long Kowloon southern link, planned by Hong Kong’s Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC).
This follows concern by local legislators that building tunnels using cut and cover techniques would cause too much disruption, noise and dust in the heart of the Tsim Sha Tsui tourist district.
KCRC East Rail extensions director Lee Kang-kuen confirmed that the TBM option was back on the table after apparently being discarded as being too expensive during a briefing to legislators in July. He told T&TI in mid-September that lawmakers “had expressed major concerns” about the use of cut and cover. “We are looking at both options, but have made no decision,” Mr Lee said.
Asked if the revival of the TBM option followed a demand by legislators that KCRC give a cost comparison between the two tunnelling methods, he said site investigation work had resulted in the KCRC receiving much more information about ground conditions.
He believed that KCRC could decide which method was preferred by the end of this month when KCRC is set to report back to lawmakers on its cost comparison.
The railway will run from the end of East Rail line at Tsim Sha Tsui East to the start of the new West Rail link in Sham Shui Po. KCRC is hoping to start work on the Kowloon southern link by the middle of next year for completion in April 2008, although testing, commissioning and trial running will take a further nine months before the line opens to passengers in January 2009.
