Tymon Mellor: Following the submission in November 1995 by the KCRC of a detailed feasibility study (DFS) for the Western Corridor Railway, the Government had a full proposal for the line, including an updated cost at $75 billion; more than twice the original estimate. To achieve a proposed opening in 2001, preliminary engineering and design works would need to commence […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: With the opening of the Hong Kong section of the railway on 1st October 1910 and the mainland section 12 months later, Hong Kong was now part of the expanding Chinese railway network. This would link Hong Kong to the new Chinese markets; bringing huge changes to the region and the world. Unfortunately, the world did not change […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: In the month following the publication of the Railway Development Strategy in December 1994, the Government invited the KCRC to submit a proposal for the Western Corridor Railway with a proposed project completion in 2001. KCRC had already mobilised the specialist skills needed to undertake the task and soon commenced the preparation of a detailed feasibility study (DFS) […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: Within the first 15 minutes of the opening of the Cross-Harbour Tunnel on the 3rd August, 1972 over 700 vehicles had driven through the tunnel, signalling the future success of the project and allowing the tunnel to become part of the Hong Kong DNA. But from the outset, construction of this new icon had many hurdles to overcome […]
» Read more
For anyone over the age of 35, and if you came to Hong Kong before 1998, you are likely to remember the first time you landed at Kai Tak. It may have been the dramatic approach from the north-west, skimming over the buildings where you could see the laundry hanging on the washing lines. Or if arriving over the sea, […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: Kenneth Albert Watson or Ken was one of the territory’s great protagonists. He was a member of the Legislative Council, a member of the Urban Council and an active letter writer to the South China Morning Post. He spent much of his life trying make the territory a better place to live and actively encouraged the use of […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: Construction of the Kowloon Canton Railway included the excavation of the Beacon Hill tunnel through the Kowloon hills. At the time, the tunnel at 7,212ft or 2,198m was the longest tunnel in China and the fifth longest tunnel outside Europe. The southern and northern portals were remote from existing villages and sickness among the workers was common. To […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: The existing public camp site at Nga Ying Kok is located next to the Tai O coastal path on a series of small platforms cut into the hillside. The site is surrounded by trees and bush with an exposed water main running across the site. This quiet little backwater of Lantau in 1959 was to be the site […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: In 1952 an application was approved for a Temporary Mining Licence number 18 on the Island of Lamma for the exploitation of Manganese. On the hillside above the village of Mo Tat a number of adits were excavated but no commercial quantities of the mineral were discovered. This article describes the abandoned mine workings on Lamma. The current […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: In 1904, as the Hong Kong Island tram system was readying for operation, attention focused on the opposite side of the harbour on the development of a tram network for Kowloon. After many false starts, just when it seemed that work was about to start on a Kowloon tram network, the Government had a major change of approach […]
» Read more