Tamar Station

Tamar 添馬
Proposed MTR rapid transit station
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	添馬
Simplified Chinese	添马
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Tiānmǎ Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization tim1 ma5 Jyutping tim1 ma5
General information
Location	Lung Wo Road × Tim Wa Avenue, Admiralty Central and Western District, Hong Kong
Coordinates	22°16′55″N 114°09′58″E / 22.2820°N 114.1660°E / 22.2820; 114.1660Coordinates: 22°16′55″N 114°09′58″E / 22.2820°N 114.1660°E / 22.2820; 114.1660
Owned by	MTR Corporation
Operated by	MTR Corporation
Line(s)	Tung Chung Line      Tseung Kwan O Line
Platforms	4 (2 island platforms)
Tracks	4
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Services
Preceding station   MTR   Following station Terminus Tung Chung Line North Island Line extension Hong Kong towards Tung Chung Terminus Tseung Kwan O Line North Island Line extension Exhibition towards Po Lam or LOHAS Park
Location
Tamar Location within the MTR system

Tamar (Chinese: 添馬) is a station on MTR's proposed North Island Line (NIL) on the north shore of Hong Kong Island. It will be located on the former site of HMS Tamar on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. Tamar Station will be the eastern terminus of the Tung Chung Line and the western terminus of the Tseung Kwan O Line. It will also act as a transfer station between the two lines.

The MTR plans to start construction of the station in 2021 and open it in 2026.^[1] Geographically, the Admiralty MTR station is located to the north, while the reclaimed Central and Wan Chai are to the south. The station would sit at the foot of the Central Government Complex, directly under Tamar Park.

The Station will use the current footbridge which crosses Harcourt Road to connect Admiralty Station.

History

According to the original plan, the site of the station was to be the location of the new Central Government Complex. However, since the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, the Hong Kong government worried that should the government headquarters be built above the railway station, terrorists might use the station to commit an attack against the complex. Also, due to fluctuations in real estate, the Hong Kong government requested that the land be auctioned for commercial purposes.^[2] The development of the lot has been pending, which has had a direct impact on the construction project site and the North Island line.

In 2006, the Hong Kong Government was set to implement the Tamar Development Project.^[3] The new Government Complex was inaugurated in 2011,^[4] but the timetable of the construction of the NIL station was still undecided.

On February 21, 2013, the Highways Department published an improved version of the "Railway Development Strategy." As part of the second phase of public consultation for the North Island Line, the department created two proposals: a "swap" scheme and an "interchange" scheme.^[5] In the former plan, the North Island Line would be split in two lines. The Tung Chung Line would extend east from Hong Kong Station to serve the new Tamar, Exhibition, and Causeway Bay North stations before using the current Island Line track from Fortress Hill to Chai Wan. Meanwhile, the Tseung Kwan O Line would extend west past North Point station to the Island Line's Tin Hau station before going along the current Island Line to the Kennedy Town station.^[5] In the latter, the Tung Chung Line woulf be extended one stop, from Hong Kong to Tamar, while the Tseung Kwan O Line would be extended three stops, from North Point to Causeway Bay North, Exhibition, and Tamar (with Tamar becoming an interchange station and terminal for the two lines).^[5] The Hong Kong government opted for the "interchange" scheme in 2014, which meant that the Tamar station would be a four-track, two-level station, as opposed to the two-track, one-level station proposed as part of the "swap" scheme.^[1]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tamar Station.