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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Exhibition Centre Station (MTR)
Exhibition Centre (Chinese: 會展; Cantonese Yale: wuih jín) is an MTR station on the East Rail line. It serves the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre and other parts of Wan Chai North, on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong.

The station was built as part of the Shatin to Central Link project. It topped out on 12 November 2020 and began service on 15 May 2022. This station and the East Rail portion of Admiralty are the first KCRC-owned stations that serve Hong Kong Island. It is the first East Rail line station on Hong Kong Island for trains coming from Hung Hom.

Description

The station serves the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, the Wan Chai Sports Ground and various nearby office towers in Wan Chai North.

It will become an interchange station between the North Island line (the extension of Tseung Kwan O line) and the East Rail line, offering cross-platform interchange between the two lines. Initially, only the East Rail line platforms are open, as the North Island line is still being planned.

The station was designed by Farrells. In January 2015, the MTR Corporation awarded a contract to Leighton in a joint venture with China State Construction to build the station and western approach tunnel.

The station had been built on the site of the former Harbour Road Sports Centre, Wan Chai Swimming Pool, and Wan Chai Ferry Pier Bus Terminus, which were all demolished and reprovisioned elsewhere before construction began. The swimming pool and sports centre were rebuilt on the car park site immediately to the south. The Wan Chai Ferry Pier Bus Terminus, originally located where the station was to be built, was relocated to newly reclaimed land near the new Wan Chai Ferry Pier. The station groundbreaking took place on the former bus terminus site on 20 April 2015. The transport interchange has since been rebuilt on top of Exhibition Centre station as the latter was nearing completion.

There were plans to expand the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre over the MTR station. The enabling works for this topside development were included during the station construction. Plans for topside convention facilities above the station had since been discontinued in the 2020 Policy Address, citing technical difficulties involved, uncertainties concerning the construction period and cost-effectiveness as the reasons.

Station layout

U1 Footbridge Footbridge towards Wan Chai North
(Immigration Tower, Central Plaza, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Wan Chai pier, Wan Chai station)
G Ground level Exits
L2 Concourse Customer service, MTR shops
L4
Upper Platform 		Platform 2 ←      East Rail line towards Admiralty (Terminus)
Side platform, doors will open on the left
L5
Lower Platform 		Platform 1 →      East Rail line towards Lo Wu or Lok Ma Chau (Hung Hom) →
Side platform, doors will open on the right

Entrances/exits

Connections

Located above the station is the Exhibition Centre Station Public Transport Interchange, which serves as the terminal point of around 20 bus routes to different parts of Hong Kong. The interchange replaced the former Wan Chai Ferry Pier Bus Terminus, which had to be temporarily relocated to a nearby site during the station's construction.

The Wan Chai Ferry Pier, which provides Star Ferry service to Tsim Sha Tsui, is located around 150m to the north of the station.

History

Exhibition Centre station was first proposed in the 1994 Railway Development Strategy issued by the Hong Kong Government's Transport Branch as an interchange between the proposed North Island and South Island lines. In Railway Development Strategy 2000, Exhibition became an interchange between North Island line and Shatin to Central Link.

Renaming

This station was tentatively called Exhibition station, but in late 2017 was renamed to Exhibition Centre station. Its Chinese name remained the same.

Discovery of WWII bombs

A black bomb casing on display
The bomb casing on display at Platform 1

On 27 and 31 January 2018, two American-made AN-M65 bombs, believed to have been dropped during World War II and weighing about 450 kg (990 lb) each, were discovered by workers at the construction site. Construction was suspended for bomb disposal work. Nearly 5000 people in the surrounding area were evacuated; no injuries were reported. Each operation took nearly 24 hours for preparation and disposal. One of the bombs was stripped of explosive material and put on display inside the station.

References

  1. ^ "Continuing Connected Transactions - Execution of Agreements Relating To The Shatin To Central Link" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 August 2022. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
  2. ^ "Legislative Council Panel on Transport Subcommittee on Matters Relating to Railways - Progress Update of the Construction of the Shatin to Central Archived 27 March 2023 at the Wayback Machine"
  3. ^ "Exhibition Centre Station Topped-out" (PDF). MTR Corporation. 12 November 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 November 2020. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  4. ^ "港鐵東鐵綫過海段5月15日開通！首班車 5.25am 會展站通往紅磡". 14 May 2022. Archived from the original on 15 May 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  5. ^ "港鐵東鐵綫過海段通車 不少鐵路迷乘搭稱心情很興奮". Archived from the original on 15 May 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  6. ^ "Exhibition Centre MTR". RTHK news. 22 October 2021. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  7. ^ "Hong Kong Island Section Newsletter" (PDF). MTR Corporation. May 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  8. ^ Transport and Housing Bureau (June 2016). "Progress Update of the Construction of the Shatin to Central Link (As at 31 March 2016)" (PDF). Legislative Council Panel on Transport Subcommittee on Matters Relating to Railways. p. 8. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 November 2016. Retrieved 4 November 2016. To allow flexibility for the construction of convention facilities above Exhibition Station, a certain part of the enabling works for the topside development would be incorporated into the underground structure of Exhibition Station.
  9. ^ "The Chief Executive's 2020 Policy Address - Striving Ahead with Renewed Perseverance" (PDF). The Government of HKSAR. pp. 36–37. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 October 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  10. ^ "Progress Update of the Construction of the Shatin to Central Link" (PDF). Transport and Housing Bureau. November 2017. p. Annex 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 April 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2017. [...]as well as the additional cost for the late handover of construction sites at Exhibition Centre Station (formerly known as Exhibition Station), the previously unbudgeted foundation works for top-side development at Exhibition Centre Station and other factors such as the shortage of labour in the construction sector. [...]
  11. ^ Ng, Naomi; Kao, Ernest (1 February 2018). "Hong Kong police disarm second 450kg wartime bomb after 'dirty, difficult and dangerous' operation". Archived from the original on 26 February 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2018.

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