New MTR line is east-west corridor

FOR DECADES, Hong Kongers using the city’s mass transit system talked about “the red line”, “the blue line” and “the green line” – but a new line opened this week that eclipses them all.

The brown line – shown as a brown line outlined in yellow for emphasis in our image – is a serious new addition to the map, basically making a huge east-west corridor across the main part of Hong Kong.

While there have been other lines added to the map over recent years, they’ve all been relatively small, unlike the 56 kilometer new segment, called the Tuen Ma line.

Many Hong Kong people are huge fans of the city’s MTR system, which has regularly won prizes as the world’s best public transport system, moving millions of people every day quickly, efficiently and inexpensively. The Tuen Ma line took 72,000 passengers on its first day, the MTR Corp reported. Many queued for hours to take the first train, which left the station at 5.15 a.m. yesterday.

For train enthusiasts, or people who like to nap, the new line will provide the longest route you can take in Hong Kong without changing lines – 73 minutes from end to end.Engineers made the huge system by building separate systems and getting them up and running over several years, before recently adding new segments that joined the system up into a single line.