University Station (MTR)

History

Built and opened in 1955, University Station was originally named Ma Liu Shui (馬料水) after the predominant name of the area before the Chinese University of Hong Kong was built. However, even at this point the station was serving Chung Chi College (崇基學院), which would become part of the new university in 1963. The station was given its present name in 1966, and in 1983 its tracks were electrified along with the rest of the KCR British Section.

A Chinese goods wagon derailed north of the station at around 2:00 p.m. on 4 June 1988. Nobody was injured, but the derailment led to thousands being stranded at University, Tai Po Market, and Fo Tan stations, leading to an "almost hysterical scramble for road transport". At 5:00 p.m. a lorry overturned in the northbound carriageway of the Lion Rock Tunnel. Together, the accidents caused a "great stoppage" in Kowloon and the eastern New Territories, leading to anger and fights at massive queues for taxi ranks and bus stations. The Police Tactical Unit was dispatched to University Station.

Originally, the station was the smallest in the system. In the early 1990s, the new town of Ma On Shan was developed on the other side of Tolo Harbour, and it seemed inefficient to make residents there go all the way to Sha Tin to catch a train. Therefore, University Station was expanded at a cost of $72.4 million, becoming an important interchange between buses and minibuses from Ma On Shan and the East Rail Line. Construction began in late 1998 and the expanded station, designed by Leigh & Orange, was officially opened in October 2000. The total floor area of the station concourses increased from 800 square metres to 2,000 square metres. Four years later, in December 2004, the Ma On Shan Line opened to provide Ma On Shan with direct railway service. Thus, University Station's importance to residents of Ma On Shan has since greatly diminished.

A new exit D opened at the north end of the station in 2012 to serve several newly opened teaching buildings nearby. The structure was awarded LEED silver precertification for features such as natural daytime lighting, rainwater storage for irrigation, natural ventilation, and furniture made from recycled railway sleepers. The entrance is unusual on the MTR system in that it opens directly onto a platform rather than a concourse level, meaning that it is convenient only for those using northbound trains because there is no way to cross the tracks at that area. To access Hung Hom-bound trains from exit D, passengers must walk the length of the platform to cross the tracks using the exit A/B concourse.

Safety

The platform is built along a curve, causing gaps of a range of different sizes to exist while the trains are lined up to the platform. The KCRC responded to these complaints (in Funride@KCR) by assuring passengers that they will install plates on the side of platforms to reduce the gap, though this has not been done.

After two incidents of children falling onto the tracks at University Station in 1985, the issue was discussed in the Legislative Council. The Secretary for Transport asserted that the gaps were within "international safety limits", and that the gap could not be narrowed due to the curvature of the station as well as the "rather wider bodies" of the Chinese through trains which run through the station daily. A man who fractured his leg boarding a train at the station in 2008 asserted that he fell into a gap of about 35 cm, while the MTR claimed it was only 22 cm at the relevant section of platform.

Today, the station is one of three on the network marked with special signage noting the "gap black spots". The platform edge is outfitted with flashing neon lighting and "小心空隙" (mind the gap) decals, and typically there are several staff on duty on the platform.

Entrances/exits

Transport interchange

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