Austin station (MTR)

History

Austin station was built as part of the Kowloon Southern Link project, built to connect the West Rail line and . KCR Corporation originally planned two stations along the new section of line: Austin and Canton Road stations. The latter station was cancelled due to failed negotiations with private landowners. As a result, Austin was the only new station built as part of the Kowloon Southern Link scheme. It is also the first KCR-owned station to be opened after the MTR took over operations of the KCR network.

During the planning and early construction stages, the station was called "West Kowloon station" (). The construction contract KDB200 (West Kowloon Station and Tunnels – Jordan Road to East Tsim Sha Tsui Station) was awarded to the Leighton-Balfour Beatty-Kumagai-John Holland Joint Venture (renamed to "Link 200 Joint Venture" on 9 August 2005) for an estimated contract sum of HK$2.018 billion. This station is part of this contract. Construction was finished in July 2009 and the station opened on 16 August that year. It was named after Austin Road.

It was located adjacent to the Canton Road Government Offices until that structure was demolished in 2011. An MTR residential property development, The Austin, was subsequently constructed on the site of the former government offices.

A direct connection between Austin station and the West Kowloon Terminus was opened on 23 September 2018.

A new underground pedestrian link between Austin station and Xiqu Centre, a Chinese opera house, was opened on 21 March 2021.

On 27 June 2021, the 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, Austin was included in the project and is now an intermediate station on the Tuen Ma line.

Station layout

The station has two tracks and one island platform. The surface station building is divided into two parts by Wui Cheung Road.

By interchanging between and Austin stations, passengers using Octopus cards can connect to the MTR urban lines for free, immediately before or after the Airport Express journey. Airport Express passengers can travel around the two stations by walking through Exit B5 of this station or using the complimentary Airport Express shuttle bus service. However, it only provides out-of-system connection to Kowloon station for passengers with gate charges.

Exits A and F are respectively connected with the pedestrian subways at the Jordan Road and the Austin Road junctions with Canton Road. But unlike cases like the subway at the Ngau Tau Kok station, the other exits of these two subways connected to Austin are not numbered.

Entrances/exits

;Northern concourse

• A: Jordan Road
• B1/B2: Wui Cheung Road
• B3: The Austin
• B4:
• B5: ELEMENTS, Kowloon Station
• C: Hong Kong West Kowloon Station ;Southern concourse
• D1/D2: Austin Road West and West Kowloon Cultural District
• D3: Grand Austin
• D4: Hong Kong West Kowloon Station
• E: Xiqu Centre, China Ferry Terminal
• F: Austin Road

References

References

1. "GAKEI.com – Jordan Road Ferry Bus Terminus 佐敦道碼頭巴士總站".
2. (2008). "Projects – Kowloon Southern Link". MTR Corporation Limited.
3. "Press release 'Kowloon Southern Link to open in third quarter 2009', 10 July 2009".
4. {{MTRsource. layout. aus. Austin. 30 October 2016
5. "EIA report index". Government of Hong Kong.
6. "West Rail Line Extension Passenger Guide". [[MTR]].
7. {{MTRsource. map. aus. Austin
8. (16 January 2009). "Legislative Council Panel on Transport Subcommittee on Matters relating to Railways: Pedestrian Connectivity of Austin Station with neighbouring areas".
9. (8 January 2018). "ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEE OF FINANCE COMMITTEE".
10. {{MTRsource. map. ntk. Ngau Tau Kok
11. {{MTRsource. map. aus. Austin. 30 October 2016