Untitled - HKU Libraries - The University of Hong Kong

7.15.14 Financial support for the new rail lines would be required and could come ina variety of forms. Internal financing by the existing rail corporations based onrevenues from other rail lines is also a possibility. The financial position of the twocorporations should be taken into account in deciding the scale of support that isrequired of the Government.Next Steps7.15.15 The CTS-2 Study recommends three railway projects for construction in the early1990s:(1) MTR Junk Bay Extension(2) North-West New Territories Urban Link(3) An additional cross-harbour rail link7.15.16 Subject to a firm Government decision to proceed with these projects and toagreement on any financing arrangement required, detailed engineering and planningstudies are now required to define the details of these projects and to prepareconstruction plans. This should be relatively straightforward in the case of the JunkBay extension where some initial planning has already been undertaken.7.15.17 The North-West New Territories Urban Link will require more work, since severalmajor choices have to be made as discussed above, However, the choices are welldefined and the final selection of route and operation should not present technicaldifficulties.7.15.18 The study of an additional rail harbour crossing is more complex. It is essential thatsuch a crossing fit with long term urban rail developments and these will be stronglyinfluenced by plans for the development of the urban area. These plans are underclose examination at the present time in a series of studies of new reclamations,airport re-location, and urban renewal. It is essential that the needs for raildevelopment, and the opportunities afforded by rail development, are fully takeninto account in the recommendations of these studies. Decisions on urban area railstrategy, and the location of the next cross-harbour rail link, should be made at anearly date to permit detailed location and construction studies to proceed as soon aspossible.148