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1.MTR planning high-speed 30-storey lift for Pokfulam

1. MTR planning high-speed 30-storey lift for Pokfulam
ANITA LAM, SCMP 17 September 2005

A high-speed, 30-storey lift proposed by the MTR Corporation for a station on the South Island Line may disorient elderly passengers, a district councillor warned.

"I don't know how fast the lift will be, but a high-speed elevator is not suitable for the elderly," councillor Lam Kin-lai said at a meeting between the rail company and the Central and Western District councils yesterday.

MTR Corp senior co-ordination engineer Tang Pak-hung said he could not provide details on the speed, but that it would be difficult to use escalators for a height as deep as 100 metres.

Mr Tang revealed that an underground lift was being considered to take passengers from the University of Hong Kong in Pokfulam to the future University station, one of the three stations to be built on South Island Line, which is scheduled to begin providing service in 2012.

Many district councillors yesterday pressed for an earlier completion date.

However, the principal assistant secretary for environment, transport and works, Raymond Ho Wai-fu, said 2012 was a realistic estimation.

He said the government hoped to reduce the amount of subsidy to the MTR Corp, but a final decision would not be reached until the end of this year at the earliest.

The company has asked the government to subsidise at least half of the $6 billion to $7 billion cost of the rail link construction.