Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Transport and Logistics, Mr Lam Sai-hung, at a media session after attending a radio programme to elaborate on the initiatives in "The Chief Executive's 2022 Policy Address" this morning (October 24):
Reporter: The Government has put forward a plan in 2014 for the East Kowloon MTR Line but this time the Policy Address didn't address this project. How is the status of this project? Has it been put on hold or what concerns does the Government have?
Secretary for Transport and Logistics: In the Railway Development Strategy 2014, we proposed the East Kowloon Line. At that time, it was a heavy rail system. Yet, when we explored further, we found that the rate that the railway climbs has to be a limit and this will result in a very deep station. That will become very costly. Also, the overall transport performance will diminish because of the inconvenience for passengers to travel from ground level down to the station. That is why we explore an alternative, which we call the Elevated Trackless Rapid Transit System, to replace the original heavy rail system. Allow some time for the Government to do some further study. We expect to have the outcome in the first half of next year and we will roll out the proposal for discussion with the public.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Monday, October 24, 2022
Issued at HKT 12:25