International Conference on Roads and Railways 2025 successfully concludes On-site visits to Central Kowloon Route and MTRCL Tung Chung Line Extension works projects (with photos)
The International Conference on Roads and Railways 2025 co-organised by the Highways Department (HyD) and the Hong Kong Institution of Highways and Transportation already came to a successful conclusion yesterday (June 13). The two-day conference attracted over 800 participants, successfully bringing together global experts, scholars and industry leaders to share experiences and insights, and jointly lead Hong Kong’s transport infrastructure development to write a new chapter.
In his opening remarks and speech on the second day of the conference, Vice President of the Research Institute of Highway of the Ministry of Transport of the People’s Republic of China, Mr Wang Shuiyin, inspired the participants to think about how to put smart and green road construction into practice. The conference then focused on Smart and Green Transport Infrastructure – Planning, Design and Construction and Green Solutions for Smart Transport Infrastructure, with in-depth discussions on the topics of innovative designs, construction and material technologies, smart monitoring technologies, strategies to cope with extreme weather, etc., which provided multi-faceted solutions for the promotion of smart and green transport infrastructure. Students studying relevant engineering subjects were invited to participate in the conference. This enabled them to understand the future development of transport infrastructure, as well as the breakthroughs in innovative technologies of the engineering sector. Deputy Director of Highways, Mr Richard Ng, said in his closing remarks that the conference inspired Hong Kong to create sustainable solutions through policy innovation and technological innovation in order to respond to various challenges in the implementation of transport infrastructures, while deepening international co-operation. He also expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the guests, speakers, supporting organisations and all participants for their participation which had made the conference a success.
Tied in with the theme of Building Smart and Green Transport Infrastructure, around 60 participants were arranged in two delegations to respectively visit the works sites of two major infrastructure projects, the Central Kowloon Route (CKR) and the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL) Tung Chung Line Extension (TUE), witnessing the achievements of Hong Kong’s transport infrastructure.
As one of the strategic transport infrastructure projects in Hong Kong, the CKR has entered the final stage of construction works. It is expected to reach readiness for official commissioning by December this year and will be named as the Central Kowloon Bypass (Yau Ma Tei Section) by then. One of the highlights of today’s visit to the CKR project is the first crossing of the Central Kowloon Bypass (Yau Ma Tei Section) mainly composed of a tunnel, which is about 4.7 kilometres long, with a tunnel of about 3.9 km in length and more than 100 metres deep underground, and three ventilation buildings located along the way at Yau Ma Tei, Ho Man Tin and Kai Tak respectively. The scale of the tunnel far exceeds that of the Central-Wanchai Bypass and is comparable to the Tai Lam Tunnel. The tunnel is equipped with a comprehensive traffic control and surveillance system, enabling the controlling officers to closely monitor the operation of the tunnel from the control room of Kai Tak Administration Building and make prompt response when necessary.
The project team of the HyD introduced to the delegation their self-invented and multi-international award-winning Smart Site Management Hub, which effectively monitors the works progress of the entire project under different works contracts in a unified manner by integrating various data of innovative technologies, thereby enhancing site safety and construction quality. The delegation then visited the Kai Tak Interchange, Kai Tak Depressed Road and entrance of Yau Ma Tei Tunnel, as well as the works site at Kansu Street in Yau Ma Tei to understand how the project team had overcome the challenges encountered during construction, including tunnel excavation, re-provisioning of Gascoigne Road Flyover, etc in the dense urban areas. The project team also shared the people-oriented engineering philosophy of the project in striving to conserve the nearby heritages and iconic landmarks when implementing works, as well as first re-provisioning the public facilities affected, taking full account of cultural conservation and community needs. The delegation was specially arranged to visit the Former Yau Ma Tei Police Station to gain a deep understanding of the history of the century-old building and conservation engineering technology.
Another delegation visited the MTRCL TUE project, which is composed of Tung Chung East (TCE) and Tung Chung West (TCW) Sections, amidst including the new TCE Station constructed between the existing Sunny Bay Station and Tung Chung Station, as well as an approximately 1.3-km-long extension from the existing Tung Chung Station for construction of the new TCW Station. The project is targeted for completion by 2029, and will effectively enhance Tung Chung’s internal and external connectivity, and promote sustainable community development upon commissioning. The project team shared and exchanged experiences on integrating innovative technologies and infrastructure construction with the delegation, and arranged visits to the two works sites to gain a deeper understanding of the works progress.
In addition, young members from professional bodies and organisations, including the Hong Kong Institution of Highways and Transportation, the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, the Institution of Civil Engineers Hong Kong Association, and the University of Hong Kong Engineering Alumni Association, etc to will be arranged to visit the CKR works site next Saturday (June 21). They will have a closer look on how complex underground works were carried out in the urban areas with lots of buildings, dense population and high traffic flow under the project.
For conference details, please visit the designated website: icrr2025.com/en/index.html.
