Lion Rock Tunnel
Encyclopedia
The Lion Rock Tunnel, being the first tunnel in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

, is a twin-bored toll tunnel, connecting Sha Tin
Sha Tin
Sha Tin, also spelled Shatin, is an area around the Shing Mun River in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Sha Tin District.-Geography:...

 in the New Territories
New Territories
New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory. Historically, it is the region described in The Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory...

 and New Kowloon
New Kowloon
New Kowloon is an area in Kowloon, Hong Kong, bounded in the south by Boundary Street, and in the north by the ranges of the Lion Rock, Beacon Hill, Tate's Cairn and Kowloon Peak...

 near Kowloon Tong
Kowloon Tong
Kowloon Tong , formerly Kau Lung Tong, is an area in Hong Kong. Within New Kowloon, it is administratively divided by Kowloon City District and Sham Shui Po District...

. It has two lanes in each direction, with toll booths located at the Sha Tin end. It is a vital component of Route 1
Route 1 (Hong Kong)
Route 1 in Hong Kong is a major artery that runs in a generally north-south direction from Aberdeen to Sha Tin.The route begins at Aberdeen Praya Road in southern Hong Kong Island, which then turns into Wong Chuk Hang Road...

.

The Lion Rock Tunnel was opened on November 14, 1967, as a 1.43 km dual-one single bore tunnel. The conception of this tunnel is often described as a by-product, as there was a need at that time to build a water supply tunnel through the range of hills separating New Kowloon
New Kowloon
New Kowloon is an area in Kowloon, Hong Kong, bounded in the south by Boundary Street, and in the north by the ranges of the Lion Rock, Beacon Hill, Tate's Cairn and Kowloon Peak...

 and the rest of the New Territories
New Territories
New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory. Historically, it is the region described in The Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory...

, as part of the Plover Cove scheme
Plover Cove Reservoir
Plover Cove Reservoir , located within Plover Cove Country Park, in the northeastern New Territories, is the largest reservoir in Hong Kong in terms of area, and the second-largest in terms of volume. It was the first in the world to construct a lake from an arm of the ocean...

. The Lion Rock Tunnel was designed by Young Au Young, a civil engineer from Shunde.

The government later saw the need for another road link between New Kowloon
New Kowloon
New Kowloon is an area in Kowloon, Hong Kong, bounded in the south by Boundary Street, and in the north by the ranges of the Lion Rock, Beacon Hill, Tate's Cairn and Kowloon Peak...

 and Sha Tin
Sha Tin
Sha Tin, also spelled Shatin, is an area around the Shing Mun River in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Sha Tin District.-Geography:...

 when it decided to develop the latter as a new town. The Second Lion Rock Tunnel, which is 1.41 km long and situated to the west of, and lying parallel to, the old tunnel, was opened to traffic on January 18, 1978.

The new tunnel serves northbound traffic towards Sha Tin, while the old one serves southbound traffic towards Kowloon. Traffic in both directions share one of the tunnels when the other undergoes maintenance works.

Serco Group (HK) Limited is contracted to manage, operate and maintain the Lion Rock Tunnel and Kai Tak Tunnel
Kai Tak Tunnel
Kai Tak Tunnel , formerly known as the Airport Tunnel is a tunnel in New Kowloon, Hong Kong, which connects the Kowloon Bay and To Kwa Wan areas by going beneath the former Hong Kong International Airport . It is part of Route 5...

 which have a daily total of approximately 90,000 vehicles throughout in 2000. The first contract started in 1993 and was successfully retained in 1996 and 2000 at rebid.

Approximately 100 civil servants from the Transport Department were transferred to Serco Group (HK) Limited as part of the company's solution.

In 1999, several Serco Group (HK) Limited staff achieved certified trainer status by the Institute of Vehicle Recovery UK - a first for a private company in Hong Kong.

Lion Rock Tunnel has achieved both ISO 9001
ISO 9000
The ISO 9000 family of standards relates to quality management systems and is designed to help organizations ensure they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders . The standards are published by ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, and available through National...

 and OHASA18001 in 2004.
The toll to traverse the Lion Rock Tunnel is HK$
Hong Kong dollar
The Hong Kong dollar is the currency of the jurisdiction. It is the eighth most traded currency in the world. In English, it is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively HK$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...

8 each way.

External links

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