Eastern Harbour Crossing

The Eastern Harbour Crossing, abbreviated as "EHC" (Chinese: 東隧), is a combined road-rail tunnel that crosses beneath Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. Opened on 21 September 1989, it connects Quarry Bay, Hong Kong Island and Cha Kwo Ling, Kowloon East.

Eastern Harbour Crossing
Entrance to Eastern Harbour Crossing at Cha Kwo Ling
Overview
LocationBeneath Victoria Harbour, between Quarry Bay and Lam Tin (near Cha Kwo Ling)
Coordinates
StatusActive
SystemPart of Route 2
StartQuarry Bay
EndLam Tin (near Cha Kwo Ling)
Operation
Opened21 September 1989 (1989-09-21)[1]
OwnerHong Kong Government
OperatorCITIC Pacific (71% - road / 50% - rail)
TrafficVehicular and Rail
Characterimmersed tube
Vehicles per day72100
Technical
Line length3.3 kilometres (2.1 mi)
No. of tracks2 tracks (1 per direction) in MTR tunnel
No. of lanes4 lanes (2 lanes per direction) in road tunnel with 6 lanes (3 lanes per direction) on exit
Track gauge1,432 mm (4 ft 8 3⁄8 in)
Operating speed70 kilometres per hour (43 mph) (within road tunnel)
50 kilometres per hour (31 mph) (exit and entrance to road tunnel)
Eastern Harbour Crossing
Part of Route 2
Route information
Maintained by Highways Department
Major junctions
West endQuarry Bay
 2 in total;
Route 4 at Quarry Bay
East endLam Tin (near Cha Kwo Ling)
Location
Major citiesKwun Tong, Quarry Bay
Highway system
Eastern Harbour Crossing
Traditional Chinese東區海底隧道
Simplified Chinese东区海底隧道

History

The Hong Kong Government negotiated with several consortia to adopt the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model in planning new tunnels in different parts of the territory.

In 1986, the government gave New Hong Kong Tunnel the right to run the Tunnel on a 30-year franchisee with lease expiring in August 2016. The tunnel features two components, a road part and a rail part:

  • The road part of the tunnel is branded as Eastern Harbour Tunnel, although the government refers to the tunnel itself as Eastern Harbour Crossing. The tunnel is governed by the Eastern Harbour Crossing Ordinance. The road part links the Island Eastern Corridor in Hong Kong Island, Lei Yue Mun Road, Tseung Kwan O Tunnel, Tseung Kwan O——Lam Tin Tunnel and the Kwun Tong Bypass in Kowloon East.
  • The rail part, lying to the southeast of the road part, runs between Quarry Bay and Yau Tong stations of the MTR Tseung Kwan O Line.

The Chinese investment group CITIC Pacific is interested in both parts, controlling the road part (71% stake) and has a 50% stake in the rail part. CITIC also controls 50% of the Western Harbour Tunnel Company.

The Kowloon tunnel portal is located next to a public housing estate, Yau Lai Estate.

Tunnel tolls

Tolls are collected manually or electronically in both directions at the toll plaza on the Cha Kwo Ling side.

CategoryVehicleToll ($)[Note 1][2]
1Motorcycle13
2Private car25
Taxi
3Public light bus38
Private light bus
4Light goods vehicle (less than 5.5 tonnes)
5Medium goods vehicle (5.5 to 24 tonnes)50
6Heavy goods vehicle (more than 24 tonnes)75
7Single-decker bus50
8Double-decker bus75
Additional axle25

Notes
  1. As of 4 November 2012

Interchanges
Eastern Harbour Crossing
Westbound exits Exit number Eastbound exits
End of Route 2
intersects with Island Eastern Corridor
End Eastern Harbour Crossing Start Eastern Harbour Crossing
Tai Koo Shing,Sai Wan Ho, Shau Kei Wan, Chai Wan,Siu Sai Wan, Stanley, Shek O
Island Eastern Corridor 		1A no exit
Quarry Bay, North Point, Causeway Bay, Happy Valley, Aberdeen
Island Eastern Corridor 		1B no exit
Eastern Harbour Crossing
Start Eastern Harbour Crossing End Eastern Harbour Crossing
continues as Lei Yue Mun Road

Traffic
Main article: List of bus routes in Hong Kong § Eastern Harbour Crossing

As of 2018, there are 46 bus routes passing through the tunnel.

Controversies

In June 2005, CITIC decided to raise the toll for using Eastern Harbour Crossing from HK$15 to HK$25 for private vehicles and up to 67% for other classes of vehicles, under the fare adjustment mechanism derived from the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model.[3] This increase aroused criticisms that the model was detrimental to the public interest, with the increase shifting more traffic to the already congested Cross-Harbour Tunnel.

See also

References
  1. "Transport in Hong Kong – Tunnels and Bridges". Transport Department of the Government of Hong Kong. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
  2. "Transport Department Tunnels and Bridges". Transport Department of the Government of Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 11 January 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
  3. Ng, Dennis (4 May 2005). "Toll hike ignites call for government to take control". The Standard. Archived from the original on 16 October 2007. Retrieved 27 October 2006.
Preceded by
Southern Terminus		 Hong Kong Route 2

Eastern Harbour Crossing		 Succeeded by
Lei Yue Mun Road
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