Consultancy Agreement No. NEX/1023 West Island Line Environmental Impact Assessment MTR Corporation Limited Final Environmental Impact Assessment Report 2. PROJECT DESCRIPTION Project Background 2.1 The existing Island Line (ISL) of MTRC provides mass transit railway services to major population and employment centres along the north shore of Hong Kong Island between Chai Wan and Sheung Wan. An extension of the ISL to Western District has been planned for many years, but has not yet been implemented due to a relatively low financial viability. 2.2 The Second Railway Development Study, namely Railway Development Strategy 2000, identified the West Island Line (WIL), which is an extension of the existing ISL, to serve transport needs in the Western Districts of Hong Kong. Further to this study, MTRC submitted a proposal for the WIL to the Government in May 2002. In this proposal, the WIL would be an extension of the ISL, and its construction would be divided into two phases. Phase 1 would begin at the already existing Sheung Wan Station. A further two stations, Sai Ying Pun and University would be added to extend the length of the ISL. Phase 2 would include an extension of the line from University to Kennedy Town, but its construction would be subject to the land availability of the western reclamation. 2.3 In January 2003, the Executive Council of Hong Kong gave MTRC permission to proceed with further planning of WIL. The MTRC then commissioned a feasibility study of WIL in mid-2003, and handed in a modified proposal to the government in end-March 2004. In June 2005, the Executive Council gave the green light for further planning and preparations for WIL. 2.4 In response to the Government's decision to proceed with detailed planning and preparations for the West Island Line in June 2005, MTRC submitted an updated proposal for the WIL to the Government in August 2006, setting out the detailed scope, cost and implementation programme for the project. This EIA study has been conducted based on this updated WIL proposal. In this proposal, the WIL will extend the existing MTRC ISL from Sheung Wan to Kennedy Town, via Sai Ying Pun and University. The WIL has been gazetted under the Railway Ordinance in October 2007. It is expected that the construction of WIL (the Project) will commence in 2009, for completion in late 2013 / early 2014. The construction programme for WIL is provided in Appendix 2.2 . Potential Environmental Benefits of the Project 2.5 The proposal for WIL was in response to the long standing demands from residents in the Western District for improved transport. The use of electrically powered trains which do not have direct emission would enable WIL to become not only an efficient but environmentally friendly mass carrier. The WIL sited within intensive developments and employment centres would help encourage the usage of railways and thereby reduce reliance on road-based transport. The capacity of the existing heavily-loaded road networks could be freed up, which would help to improve the current traffic congestion problems. This would also help to reduce vehicular noise and air emissions, improving overall environmental quality. Scope of the Project 2.6 The Project comprises the following elements: • Approximately 3km of underground railway from Sheung Wan via Sai Ying Pun and University of Hong Kong to Kennedy Town • Three stations: Kennedy Town Station (KET Station); University Station (UNI Station); and Sai Ying Pun Station (SYP Station) • An overrun tunnel extended from KET Station to the existing Ex-police Quarters site. • Ventilation shafts, cooling towers and chillers for stations and railway tunnel. ENSR Asia (HK) Ltd. 2-1 October 2008 P:\60017115\Reports\Final\9\EIA\S2_proj des.doc Consultancy Agreement No. NEX/1023 West Island Line Environmental Impact Assessment MTR Corporation Limited Final Environmental Impact Assessment Report 2.7 The construction of the WIL would involve substantial amount of rock excavation of which majority could be carried out by drill and blast method. It was estimated that there would be up to 13 number of underground work faces for drill and blast during the peak construction period. Many of the work faces would involve 2 blasts per day. Considering the explosives supply and delivery arrangement by the Mines Division of Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD), a project specific magazine would be necessary to store the explosives required for the WIL Project (refer to Appendix 10.1 – Quantitative Risk Assessment for details of arrangement). For safety reasons, it is proposed that there should be sufficient rock cover for the magazine. In view of this, a temporary magazine is proposed to be constructed under the western side of Mount Davis, with a minimum of 20m of rock cover, to support the construction of WIL. An underground access tunnel to the magazine storage chambers will be constructed. The tunnel portals of the access tunnel will be built on a flat platform next to Victoria Road. 2.8 The excavated materials arising from the WIL construction would reach ground level via four main construction shafts respectively located at the ex-Police Quarter at Kennedy Town, Kennedy Praya site, Hill Road Rest Garden and Sai Woo Lane in SYP. They will be disposed via barging points at the Kennedy Town Incinerator and Abattoir site (KET Abattoir site) and the Western District Public Cargo Working Area (Western PCWA) respectively. A construction shaft would also be provided at the King George V Memorial Park. This shaft would not be used for mucking out but for personnel and material access only. 2.9 Minor modification works will be conducted at the Sheung Wan Station (SHW Station) on existing ISL. A new track crossover is required in the crossover box but thereafter trains will run on existing ISL tracks to Sheung Wan Station. Within the station itself, re-arrangement of escalators, stairs and ticket gates is planned to convert it from a terminal station to a line station, together with enhancement of other station facilities. Works are fully within the existing station. 2.10 Site plans for the WIL elements described above are shown in Figures 2.1-2.7. Alternatives Consideration 2.11 During the Preliminary Design Phase a range of options, as discussed below, has been explored for how best to deliver WIL services to the District. This has included suggestions from the public gathered as part of the public consultation exercise on the WIL proposals which started in April 2006. Do-nothing Scenario 2.12 MTRC proposes to construct the WIL for the primary purpose of assisting Government to resolve long-standing and future transport problems in the Western District. The area is hilly and densely developed, with no space to develop modern roads except by further reclamation. Away from reclaimed areas, roads are generally narrow, tortuous and some are too steep to be accessible by vehicles. Government planning ( Territorial Population and Employment Data Matrices released in November 2003) forecasts an increase in population for the area served by WIL but exclude two foreseeable developments: the planned 40% increase in student numbers at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and development at the Kennedy Town abattoir and incinerator site (the former is an increase of about 20 000 students and the latter might amount to a population increase of over 5000). The present transport situation would only get worse. 2.13 In the absence of the WIL Project, the public in the Western District will remain to rely on road-based transport to travel from the Western District to Sheung Wan and areas along the north shore of Hong Kong Island. The long-standing traffic congestion problems in the Western District could be solved by constructing new roads. Nevertheless, given the topography and congested environment of the Western District, no space would be available for developing new roads except by further reclamation. 2.14 Unlike multi-lane highways, no land is sterilized by the underground railway and no reclamation is required for the construction of WIL. Very little space is taken up at surface by entrance and ventilation structures. Hence, key potential environmental dis-benefits which could be resulted from reclamation for providing land for new highways, such as water quality impacts arising from ENSR Asia (HK) Ltd. 2-2 October 2008 P:\60017115\Reports\Final\9\EIA\S2_proj des.doc Consultancy Agreement No. NEX/1023 West Island Line Environmental Impact Assessment MTR Corporation Limited Final Environmental Impact Assessment Report increased sediment loads due to dredging works for the reclamation, visual impacts due to loss of natural coastlines and ecological impacts due to loss of natural habitats could be precluded. 2.15 Environmental impacts associated with traffic congestion problems including emissions of traffic fumes and noise cannot be disregarded. If the WIL Project is not to be proceeded, the traffic congestion problem in the Western District would persist, and local residents would suffer from the aforementioned environmental impacts. In light of the above, the Do-nothing Scenario was not preferred. Alignment 2.16 A railway to serve Kennedy Town has been planned for more than 30 years. In that time, more than ten planning studies have been carried out by the Government or MTRC. The early proposals for rail to serve the west of Hong Kong Island were for the extension of the ISL to Kennedy Town on an alignment along Des Voeux Road West ( Figure 2.8 – The Protected Alignment). This proposal would require a two-level deep cut-and-cover station box within Des Voeux Road West. However, this proposal was discarded mainly because: • Space available for carrying out cut-and-cover station box at the narrow Des Voeux Road West would be highly limited.