Mei Foo station explained

Style:MTR
Mei Foo
Native Name:美孚
Native Name Lang:zh-Hant
Mlanguage:
L:Mobil
J:Mei5 fu1
Y:Méih fū
P:Měifú
Showflag:y
Address:
Borough:Sham Shui Po District
Country:Hong Kong
Coordinates:22.3381°N 114.1376°W
Line:
  • (Until 27 June 2021)
Connections:
Structure:
    Platform:
    • 4
    Tracks:4
    Opened:
      Electrified:
        Architect:Mass Transit Railway Corporation (Tsuen Wan Line station)
        Aedas (then known as Liang Peddle Thorp Architects & Planners) and Hong Kong Government city planners (West Rail/Tuen Ma Line station)
        Code:MEF
        Owned:
          Operator:MTR Corporation
          Former:Lai Wan
          Map Type:Hong Kong MTR
          Map Alt:Hong Kong MTR system map
          Also Known As:Former name (1982-1985)
          S2:
          Y2:Laih wāan
          J2:Lai6 waan1
          P2:Lìwān
          L2:Lychee bay

          Mei Foo is a Hong Kong MTR station located in Mei Foo Sun Chuen, Lai Chi Kok, New Kowloon. It is the only interchange station between the and the, situated between and stations on the Tsuen Wan line and and stations on the Tuen Ma line. Mei Foo station's colour is blue.

          The Tsuen Wan line part of the station is a simple through station with a central island platform, located under Mount Sterling Mall, a pedestrian-only street between the rows of residential buildings in the Mei Foo Sun Chuen housing estate. The station is designed to facilitate transport needs of the residents of Mei Foo Sun Chuen housing estate, there are 132 buildings and several schools, and the point of transfer between the Kowloon urban area and the new town of Tsuen Wan. If there is heavy traffic on the main road into urban Kowloon, the Kwai Chung Road, many commuters get off their buses and use this station as their link to Kowloon and Central on Hong Kong Island.

          History

          Tsuen Wan line

          The station's original name was Lai Chi Kok during the planning stage, but upon its opening on 17 May 1982 the station was called "Lai Wan"[1] (荔灣, short for Lai Chi Kok Bay), and was renamed to its current name on 31 May 1985 when opened. Kumagai Gumi was the contractor for the station's construction.

          West Rail line and the latter Tuen Ma line

          The (then known as KCR West Rail) part of the station was opened on 20 December 2003 along with the rail line. The station is located in the middle of Lai Chi Kok Park, slightly to the west of the Tsuen Wan line's part of the station. The contract for the station on the East Rail Line (now Tuen Ma Line) was awarded to Kier-Zen Pacific joint venture.[2] The scenery of the park was greatly destroyed during the construction of the station, but the park was subsequently rebuilt over the station complex. The and West Rail line stations merged into one station on 2 December 2007 in the MTR–KCR merger.

          On 27 June 2021, the West Rail line officially merged with the (which was already extended into the Tuen Ma line Phase 1 at the time) in East Kowloon to form the new, as part of the Shatin to Central link project. Hence, Mei Foo was included in the project and is now an intermediate station on the Tuen Ma line.

          Layout

          Both Tsuen Wan line platforms share the same island platform. Unlike at Nam Cheong station (where there is one cross-platform interchange between the and the Tuen Ma line), the and platforms are considerably far apart. The concourses for these platforms are a five to ten-minute walk along a connecting passageway.

          Although the Tuen Ma line platform is constructed at ground level, like Nam Cheong station, the station and surrounding track is sealed to avoid disturbance to the colocated park.

          Rroof gardenExit G, Lai Chi Kok Park, footbridge to Ching Lai Court, Lai King Hill Road
          CTuen Ma line concourseExit F, customer services, washrooms, shops, vending machines, automatic teller machines
          Pside platform
          Platform 1 towards
          Platform 2← Tuen Ma line towards
          side platform
          GpassagewayExit D, Lai Chi Kok Park
          Tsuen Wan line concourseExits A, B, C, E
          L1subwaypassageway connecting Tuen Ma line and Tsuen Wan line concourses
          L2Tsuen Wan line concoursecustomer service centre, shops, vending machine, automatic teller machines, Octopus promotion machine
          L3Platform 1 towards
          island platform
          Platform 2← Tsuen Wan line towards

          Entrances/exits

          Notes and References

          1. Yu, Pui-kwan, Robin, "A study on quasi-public space in large scale private residential development, case in Hong Kong", p. 28, University of Hong Kong, 2007
          2. Web site: 2001-02-08 . Mei Foo station . 2024-07-10 . New Civil Engineer . en.