University Station and the Campus Railway: The Mountain-City Gateway from the Kowloon–Canton Railway to the MTR East Rail line

Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) comprehensive information database · Campus module 05

One-line positioning: University Station (station code UNI) is a single island-platform station on the MTR East Rail line, nestled at the foot of the CUHK hillside. Its predecessor, "Ma Liu Shui Station," opened on 24 September 1956^※, the first new station added to the Kowloon–Canton Railway (British Section) after the Second World War. Over seven decades it has undergone a renaming, electrification, two major expansions and a cross-harbour extension — and it remains the University's only railway gateway to the outside world.

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# Why was Ma Liu Shui Station built?

University Station's predecessor, Ma Liu Shui Station, came into being specifically for Chung Chi College. In 1952, the government granted land at Ma Liu Shui to Chung Chi College, which set about building its campus on a stretch of hillside beside the existing Kowloon–Canton Railway. By then the railway (British Section) — running north from Kowloon through Sha Tin — had been in service for more than four decades (since 1 October 1910^※), yet it had no stop in the Ma Liu Shui area, leaving college staff and students with a deeply inconvenient commute.

According to records from the Industrial History of Hong Kong Group, the station building was completed in August 1955^※, but delays in the delivery of new signalling equipment meant it did not formally open until 24 September 1956^※ (per the Industrial History of Hong Kong Group's piece on the postwar KCR). It was the first new station added to the KCR (British Section) after the end of the Second World War, and in its early years it was served by just three trains in each direction daily^※, directly serving the Chung Chi campus then under construction (per the English Wikipedia article on University Station). The creation of Ma Liu Shui Station marked the first time railway infrastructure had been added specifically to accommodate an institution's expansion and relocation — a logic that would repeat itself again and again as CUHK grew.

Zoom out further, and Ma Liu Shui was something of a latecomer to the railway network. When the KCR (British Section) opened on 1 October 1910^※, the entire line had only eight stations: the temporary Kowloon terminus (Tsim Sha Tsui), Hung Hom, Yau Ma Tei, Sha Tin, Tai Po (later renamed Tai Po Kau), Tai Po Market, Fanling and Lo Wu (per the Chinese Wikipedia article on the Kowloon–Canton Railway). No station served the Ma Liu Shui area — a full 46 years elapsed between the railway's opening and the inauguration of Ma Liu Shui Station. This means the station was never a conventional "located by population density" stop from the outset; it was an exceptional addition made purely to serve one institution's move into the area, a rarity in the postwar expansion of the KCR (British Section), and a harbinger of the station's subsequent seven-decade fate of "changing with the University."

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# The Renaming to "University Station": When and Why?

The station's renaming from "Ma Liu Shui" to "University" came directly out of the formal establishment of The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1963. That year, the government consolidated Chung Chi College, New Asia College and United College into a single comprehensive university, founded on the Ma Liu Shui hillside. As the University grew in scale, the name "Ma Liu Shui" no longer captured the identity of the institution the station served.

According to Wikipedia and the Industrial History of Hong Kong Group, the KCR management announced the renaming on 11 December 1966^※, and it took effect on 1 January 1967^※, turning "Ma Liu Shui Station" into "University Station" (per the Chinese Wikipedia article on University Station). The officially recorded reasons include that the old name "did not sound well in Chinese" when read in Mandarin; there was also a recognition of CUHK's dominant presence in the area (per the Industrial History of Hong Kong Group).

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# Electrification in 1983: How Was the Station Rebuilt?

The electrification programme of 1983 fundamentally rebuilt University Station's physical form; the main structure of today's station house dates from this reconstruction. From the late 1970s, the KCR (British Section) embarked on a full double-tracking and electrification plan, at a total cost of roughly HK$2.5 billion (1979 prices)^※, converting the entire route from diesel operation to an electrified railway (per the English Wikipedia article on the East Rail line).

The reconstruction of University Station itself began in August 1980 and took about fourteen months, completing on 26 April 1983^※ (per the Chinese Wikipedia article on University Station). Full electric service began on 2 May 1983^※, moving University Station from its old stop-on-demand rhythm of a few trains a day into the era of high-frequency urban rail. Because of the terrain, the platform was built on a pronounced curve — which is why the station later earned the documented distinction of having the sharpest platform curvature of any station in Hong Kong^※ (per the English Wikipedia article on University Station).

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# The Curved Platform and the "Gap Hazard": How Is the Risk Managed?

The curved platform is the most distinctive engineering legacy of University Station — and it produces the widest platform–train gap in the entire Hong Kong rail system. Because of the curve, the gap between the platform edge and the train is uneven, reaching roughly 25 centimetres^※ at certain points (per the English Wikipedia article on University Station). The KCR (British Section) had to weave around terrain obstacles in its original design, so the line is studded with curves; University Station's site was always inside one, and the electrification rebuild could not eliminate that structural constraint.

On safety measures: the MTR has installed prominent warning signs and a flashing neon light strip along the platform edge to mark the "gap hazard" points. According to Wikipedia, University Station is one of only three MTR stations in Hong Kong equipped with "gap hazard" warning signage^※ (per the Chinese Wikipedia article on University Station). The latest improvement was the installation of platform screen doors, completed on 11 May 2025^※ (per the Chinese Wikipedia article on University Station), making University Station one of the East Rail line stations protected by platform screen doors. The bottom of the doors is fitted with an LED warning strip, further alerting passengers to the gap at the platform edge. These new platform gates were supplied by the mainland Chinese company Fangda Intelligent Technology (方大智創科技); according to Wikipedia, this was the first time mainland China supplied Hong Kong with a platform screen door system holding its own intellectual property^※. The gates stand about 1.7 metres high. They were part of the East Rail line's fleet-replacement programme; the installation works across the line ran from May 2023 to roughly May 2025^※ (per the Chinese Wikipedia article on platform screen doors), and University Station's installation was completed within that overall window.

University Station's official code in the MTR system is UNI (per the English Wikipedia article on University Station). Beyond the curved-gap issue, Wikipedia records that the station currently has 2 lifts and 4 escalators^※, tactile guide paths, and step-free ramps at all three exits, A, B and D (per the Chinese Wikipedia article on University Station). This accessibility provision is, in a sense, compensation for the inherent limitation of the curved platform — since the curve itself cannot be dismantled and rebuilt, the MTR chose to invest in vertical circulation and wayfinding instead, using equipment to make up for the terrain.

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# Two Trackside Incidents in the Early Electrification Years (1985, 1988)

In the first few years after electrification, University Station twice found its way into the records of engineers and legislators — once for a child falling onto the tracks, and once for a derailed goods wagon. Neither incident, as far as public records show, caused serious casualties, but they illustrate the real risks posed by the curved platform and by the mixed passenger–freight operating model of the time.

According to the English Wikipedia article on University Station, two children fell onto the tracks in 1985^※, and the incident was subsequently raised in the Legislative Council (per the English Wikipedia article on University Station). Platform screen doors did not yet exist on the East Rail line, so the risk of falling onto the tracks was managed mainly through warning signage and platform staff — which is part of the historical backdrop to the MTR's eventual installation of screen doors and LED warning strips at the station in the decades that followed.

In June 1988^※, a goods wagon derailed near University Station, causing extensive delays across the KCR (British Section) (per the English Wikipedia article on University Station). At that time the East Rail line still carried freight as well as passengers, and that mixed-traffic model meant a single derailed goods wagon could disrupt the entire day's passenger timetable — a characteristic risk of the transitional period after electrification but before freight was fully removed from the passenger line, and an operating scenario that no longer exists on today's purely passenger East Rail line.

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# The 2000 Expansion: Why Double the Size?

The 1998–2000 expansion was the largest renovation in University Station's history, and it was a direct response to population growth in the new town of Ma On Shan. The KCR Ma On Shan line (the predecessor of today's Tuen Ma line) opened in 1998, and large numbers of Ma On Shan residents began changing at University Station for East Rail line services to Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, quickly overwhelming the existing waiting areas.

The expansion was designed by Leigh & Orange Architects^※ at a total cost of HK$72.4 million^※; the concourse floor area grew from 800 to 2,000 square metres^※; new bus and minibus interchange facilities were added; and the expanded station formally opened in October 2000^※ (all data per the English Wikipedia article on University Station). This expansion transformed University Station from a purely institutional stop serving CUHK into a combined transport hub also handling the interchange needs of residents across the northeastern New Territories.

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# 2007: What Changed When the KCR Merged into the MTR?

On 2 December 2007, the Kowloon–Canton Railway (British Section) was formally merged into the MTR; University Station changed flags but not location. The Hong Kong government had been pushing for a merger of the Mass Transit Railway Corporation and the Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation since 2002; after years of negotiation, the merger was completed on 2 December 2007^※, and the names of the former KCR stations were largely kept, with "University Station" surviving to this day (per the English Wikipedia article on the MTR–KCR merger). After the merger, the East Rail line became part of the MTR network, but the Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) legally retained ownership of the line and its infrastructure, leasing it to the MTR under a franchise arrangement.

For passengers, the most immediate change after the merger was fare integration — anyone holding an Octopus card on the MTR network could now travel directly on the East Rail line to University Station with the same card, with no need to buy a separate ticket, eliminating the transfer friction of the two-company era entirely.

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# Exit D, 2012: Why Was It Built for a New Academic Structure?

Exit D was added specifically for Hong Kong's "3+3+4" academic reform — the switch from three-year to four-year undergraduate degrees — and its opening closely matched the arrival of CUHK's first cohort of four-year undergraduates. The new structure substantially increased student numbers at every university in Hong Kong, and CUHK was simultaneously building a cluster of new teaching buildings; the passenger flows served by the station's existing exits were no longer adequate.

The MTR opened Exit D on 28 September 2012^※; the exit sits at the northern end of the platform and leads directly to CUHK's new teaching buildings and the campus shuttle terminus (per the Chinese Wikipedia article on University Station). The environmental design of Exit D is not a vague slogan but is grounded in specific architectural choices: according to Wikipedia, the exit building's irregular shape is determined by the angle of the sun, with the aim of drawing natural light into the interior and thereby cutting energy consumption by about a third; gaps are deliberately left in the exterior walls to encourage air convection^※; it also has a 5,500-litre tank that collects rainwater for irrigation^※ (per the Chinese Wikipedia article on University Station). Thanks to this design, the exit earned LEED Silver precertification (Core and Shell) from the U.S. Green Building Council^※ (per the English Wikipedia article on University Station) — the only time in the station's expansion history documented in this article that "environment" was written into the engineering specification, rather than treated as an afterthought to passenger-flow. Notably, Exit D opens directly onto the platform level rather than the concourse — an unusual arrangement in the MTR system.

University Station currently has four exits — A, B, C and D — with a rough division of roles as follows:

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# 2019: Damage and Restoration

During the social unrest of November 2019, University Station suffered the most severe physical damage in its history — and the scale of repair was close to rebuilding. From 12 November 2019, the station closed along with other affected stations on the East Rail line. As Xinhua reporters observed on 18 November, escorted by MTR staff, glass was smashed at multiple entrances, fare gates at the entrances were burnt out, ATM card slots were blocked, Octopus readers on the platform had been smashed, and route maps had been defaced beyond recognition. The signalling system on the roughly 1.5 km stretch north of University Station had also been severely damaged, requiring trains to pass through the section at a manually controlled speed of no more than 22 km/h. Senior MTR management said the same day that the station had suffered 「损毁极其严重，需要深层次修复，规模近乎重建」^※ ("extremely severe damage requiring in-depth repair on a scale close to rebuilding") (per the Xinhua dispatch of 18 November 2019).

University Station reopened on 21 December 2019^※, with some exits and facilities in limited service (per the official CUHK Communications and Public Relations Office announcement). While the station was closed, CUHK arranged shuttle buses connecting Tai Po Market Station with the campus to keep staff and students moving (per CUHK's Communications and Public Relations Office).

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# The 2022 Cross-Harbour Extension: Where Can University Station Passengers Now Go Directly?

On 15 May 2022, the East Rail line's cross-harbour extension opened, allowing passengers from University Station to reach Admiralty on Hong Kong Island without changing trains — the single most important expansion of the station's commuting reach since electrification in 1983. The cross-harbour extension was the second phase of the Shatin to Central Link project, extending the line from Hung Hom to Admiralty via the new Exhibition Centre Station^※ (per the Hong Kong SAR Government press release).

With the cross-harbour section open, the East Rail line became Hong Kong's fourth cross-harbour railway^※ (per the Hong Kong SAR Government press release), and University Station passengers could now reach the core commercial and administrative districts of the northern Hong Kong Island shore in a single journey, without the previous need to change at Hung Hom or Kowloon Tong. The East Rail line also introduced a new generation of nine-car Hyundai Rotem trains (R-type trains)^※ (per the English Wikipedia article on the East Rail line), replacing the earlier twelve-car sets.

It is worth recording that for a long stretch of its history, the East Rail line (and its predecessor the KCR British Section) was not merely a local commuter railway — its tracks also carried the intercity through-trains (the Guangzhou–Kowloon, Shanghai–Kowloon and Beijing–Kowloon expresses) to and from mainland China. According to Wikipedia, intercity through-train services were suspended from 30 January 2020 because of the pandemic^※; then on 31 July 2024 the mainland General Administration of Customs announced the closure of the relevant cross-border conventional-speed train border points^※, so the through-train service has in effect been permanently discontinued, with the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong high-speed rail — which had already functionally replaced it — taking over (per the Chinese Wikipedia article on intercity through-trains). What this means in practice is that, since 2024, the East Rail line serving University Station has been a purely domestic urban railway for Hong Kong's commuter traffic, no longer carrying the cross-border through-train role — a gap between the historical weight carried by the name "East Rail line" and its actual function today that is worth noting.

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# How Does the "Symbiosis" Between University Station and CUHK Manifest?

University Station is no ordinary appendage of the CUHK campus — it is a railway station conceived for a college, renamed for a university, and given new exits in response to an academic reform. Almost every physical change in its history has tracked the rhythm of the University's growth: from Chung Chi's arrival at Ma Liu Shui in 1956, to CUHK's formal founding in 1963, to the expansion of four-year undergraduate intake in 2012, to the tens of thousands of staff and students who now pour through its four exits into this "mountain city" every day. The interlocking of railway gateway and campus destiny is the clearest thread running through CUHK's transport history.

At the same time, University Station is the point where the University plugs into Hong Kong's urban rail network: from three trains a day at Ma Liu Shui, to the dense frequencies of the electrified era, to the cross-harbour extension carrying passengers straight to Hong Kong Island — the time and convenience of getting "from the University to the city" has been shrinking with every round of railway technology and route expansion.

Brought back to the campus itself, University Station sits at the lowest of the campus's 〈three hillside terraces〉 — which is precisely the topographical reason why the Exit D added in 2012 opens "directly onto the platform" rather than routing through the concourse: the railway deposits people at the foot of the hill, and from platform to the colleges at the summit, staff and students still transfer to campus shuttles and climb level by level. For connection details and frequencies, see〈Transport and Facilities〉. This also explains why this article and〈Transport and Facilities〉divide the labour without overlapping — the former records the physical evolution of the railway infrastructure itself; the latter covers the operational layer of how that infrastructure feeds into daily travel.

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# Frequently Asked Questions

Why is University Station's platform so often described as one of the "most dangerous platforms" in Hong Kong? The root cause is topographical — the station sits on a sharp curve where the KCR (British Section) had to weave around terrain obstacles along the Tolo Harbour shore. The platform–train gap is therefore among the widest in Hong Kong's rail system, and University Station is one of only three MTR stations in Hong Kong equipped with "gap hazard" warning signage (per the Chinese Wikipedia article on University Station). The platform screen doors installed in 2025 are the MTR's latest engineering response; see the "Curved Platform and the Gap Hazard" section of this article.

Can you still travel directly from University Station to the old KCR stations like Tai Po Kau? Yes — University Station and Tai Po Kau Station both belong to the family of stations that grew up along the KCR (British Section) around and after 1910, and both sit on today's MTR East Rail line, so passengers can travel between them in a single journey. But the two stations opened nearly half a century apart: Tai Po Kau was one of the original stations at the line's opening in 1910, whereas University Station (Ma Liu Shui) was added only in 1956 for Chung Chi College's move into the area; see the "Why Was Ma Liu Shui Station Built?" section of this article.

Does University Station count as a "CUHK campus facility"? No. Ownership and operation of University Station belong to the MTR (previously the Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation); it is not University property. But its siting, naming and successive expansions all came about because of CUHK — a peculiar relationship of "born of the University, yet not belonging to it." See the "How Does the Symbiosis Between University Station and CUHK Manifest?" section of this article, and〈Campus Geography〉 on how the railway's curve relates to the campus boundary.

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# Further Reading

• 〈Transport and Facilities〉 — the operational layer of University Station as a gateway: exit roles, buses, ferries and the free campus shuttle system
• 〈Campus Geography〉 — the three hillside terraces, elevation differences and the topographical origins of the "waiting for the shuttle" culture
• 〈Campus Buildings, Landmarks and Sustainability〉 — Szeto Wai's campus master plan and landmark buildings

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