University Station and the Campus Railway Story: From the Kowloon–Canton Railway to the MTR East Rail Line, Gateway to a Hillside University

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Integrated Information Database · 05 Campus Module

In a nutshell: University Station (station code UNI) is a single-island-platform station on Hong Kong's East Rail line, tucked against the foot of CUHK's hillside. Its predecessor, Ma Liu Shui station, opened on 24 September 1956^※ as the first new stop built on the Kowloon–Canton Railway (British Section) after the Second World War. Over seven decades it has been renamed, electrified, expanded twice, and extended beneath the harbour, yet it has remained the sole railway gateway linking the CUHK campus to the outside world.

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# Why was Ma Liu Shui station built?

University Station began life as Ma Liu Shui station, and it was built specifically for Chung Chi College. In 1952, Chung Chi College was granted land by the Hong Kong government and settled at Ma Liu Shui, where it began building its campus on a sloping site alongside the existing Kowloon–Canton Railway (British Section). Although the line, which ran north from Kowloon through Sha Tin, had been in operation for over forty years (since it opened on 1 October 1910^※), it had no stop anywhere near Ma Liu Shui, making access for the College's staff and students extremely inconvenient.

According to records held by the Industrial History of Hong Kong Group, the station structure at Ma Liu Shui was completed in August 1955^※, but delays in supplying new signalling equipment meant it did not officially open until 24 September 1956^※ (per the Industrial History of Hong Kong Group: The KCR British Section – Post-War Years). It was the first new station added to the KCR British Section after the Second World War, and initially saw just three trains per day in each direction^※, directly serving the nascent Chung Chi College (per Wikipedia: University Station). The establishment of Ma Liu Shui station marked the first time railway infrastructure had been proactively deployed to accommodate an institution's expansion into a new site — a dynamic that would replay again and again as CUHK grew.

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# When and why was it renamed University Station?

The station's name changed from "Ma Liu Shui" to "University" as a direct consequence of the formal establishment of The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1963. In that year, the government brought together Chung Chi College, New Asia College, and United College to form The Chinese University of Hong Kong, built into the hillside at Ma Liu Shui. As the University grew in scale, the local place-name "Ma Liu Shui" increasingly failed to reflect the standing of the comprehensive institution now dominating the site.

According to Wikipedia and the Industrial History of Hong Kong Group, the KCR announced the name change on 11 December 1966^※, and it took effect on 1 January 1967^※, with "Ma Liu Shui" becoming "University Station" (per Wikipedia: University Station). One officially recorded reason was that the original name in Mandarin 「用普通話讀來不甚悦耳」 ("did not sound well in Chinese"); another was recognition of CUHK's dominant presence at the locality (per Industrial History of Hong Kong Group).

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# The 1983 electrification: how was the station rebuilt?

The electrification project of 1983 radically transformed University Station's physical form; the main structure of the station building we see today dates from this reconstruction. Starting in the late 1970s, the KCR British Section embarked on a territory-wide double-tracking and electrification scheme, at a total cost of approximately HK$2.5 billion (at 1979 prices)^※, converting the entire line from diesel-hauled to electric operation (per Wikipedia: East Rail line).

The reconstruction of University Station began in August 1980 and took around fourteen months, finishing on 26 April 1983^※ (per Wikipedia: University Station). Full electrified service across the line commenced on 2 May 1983^※, and University Station moved from the old pattern of a few scheduled stops per day into the era of high-frequency urban rail. Because of topographical constraints, the station's platform was built on a pronounced curve, producing what would be recorded as the sharpest platform curvature^※ of any station in Hong Kong's rail network (per Wikipedia: University Station).

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# Curved platforms and the platform gap: how were the safety risks addressed?

The curved platform is University Station's most peculiar engineering legacy — it produces the widest train-to-platform gap in the entire Hong Kong rail system. The gap varies along the platform because of the curve, reaching roughly 25 cm at certain points^※ (per Wikipedia: University Station). The original KCR British Section had to skirt topographical obstacles and so incorporated numerous curves along its route; University Station was sited within one such curve, and the structural limitation could not be fundamentally eliminated even during the electrification rebuild.

In terms of safety measures, the MTR Corporation placed prominent warning signs and flashing neon light strips along the platform edge to flag the "gap black spots." The most recent upgrade was the installation of platform screen doors, a project completed on 11 May 2025^※ (per Wikipedia: University Station), making University Station one of the East Rail line stations equipped with this safety barrier. LED warning strips were also added to the bottom of the screen doors to further alert passengers to the edge gap.

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# The 2000 expansion: why was it doubled?

The 1998–2000 expansion was the largest single remodelling of University Station ever undertaken, a direct response to population growth in the new town of Ma On Shan. The KCR Ma On Shan line (the forerunner of today's Tuen Ma line) opened in 1998, and large numbers of Ma On Shan residents began using University Station to interchange onto the East Rail line for Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, rapidly rendering the existing waiting areas inadequate.

The expansion was designed by Leigh & Orange Architects^※ at a total cost of HK$72.4 million^※. The concourse floor area was expanded from 800 square metres to 2,000 square metres^※, a new bus and minibus interchange was added, and the project was formally opened in October 2000^※ (all figures per Wikipedia: University Station). This expansion transformed University Station from a stop serving primarily the University into an integrated transport hub meeting the interchange needs of residents across the north-eastern New Territories.

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# 2007: what changed when the KCR merged into the MTR?

On 2 December 2007, the KCR British Section was formally merged into the MTR Corporation; University Station changed its operator but not its location. The Hong Kong government had been pursuing a merger of the MTR Corporation and the Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation since 2002, and after years of negotiation the merger was completed on 2 December 2007^※. The station names along the former KCR British Section were largely unchanged, and "University Station" has remained in use ever since (per Wikipedia: MTR–KCR merger). After the merger, the East Rail line became part of the MTR network, though the KCRC legally retains ownership of the line and its infrastructure, leasing it to the MTR Corporation under a service concession.

For passengers, the most immediate change at University Station after the merger was fare integration: passengers using Octopus cards on the original MTR network could now use the same card to travel on the East Rail line to University Station without purchasing a separate ticket, removing at a stroke the interchange friction of the two-railway era.

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# Exit D in 2012: why built specifically for a new academic structure?

Exit D was added specifically to accommodate Hong Kong's "334" academic reform (the shift from a three-year to a four-year undergraduate degree), and its opening coincided almost exactly with the enrolment of CUHK's first cohort of four-year undergraduates. The new structure significantly increased student numbers across all of Hong Kong's universities, and CUHK was simultaneously constructing multiple new teaching buildings; the passenger flow through the station's existing exits was no longer adequate.

The MTR opened Exit D on 28 September 2012^※. Located at the northern end of the platform, it provides direct access to CUHK's new teaching complex and campus bus terminus (per Wikipedia: University Station). Exit D was built with environmental design features: natural daylighting, passive ventilation, and rainwater harvesting, earning it a LEED Silver pre-certification from the U.S. Green Building Council^※ (per Wikipedia: University Station). One detail worth noting is that Exit D leads directly onto the platform level rather than the concourse level, a relatively unusual arrangement within the MTR system.

University Station now has four exits — A, B, C, and D — whose broad purposes are as follows:

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# 2019: damage and restoration of the station

During the social unrest of November 2019, University Station sustained the worst physical damage in its history; the scale of the restoration amounted virtually to a reconstruction. From 12 November 2019, University Station was closed along with other affected stations on the East Rail line. MTR engineers subsequently assessed that glass panels, communications equipment, ticket machines, display screens, and a great deal of other station apparatus had been destroyed, and that the scale of repair work would be comparable to rebuilding the entire station^※ (per the South China Morning Post).

University Station reopened on 21 December 2019^※, with some exits and facilities operating at a limited service level (per an official announcement from CUHK's Communications and Public Relations Office). During the closure, CUHK arranged dedicated shuttle buses connecting Tai Po Market Station with the campus to keep staff and students moving (per the CUHK Communications and Public Relations Office).

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# The Harbour Crossing opens in 2022: where can University Station passengers now go directly?

On 15 May 2022, the East Rail line Harbour Crossing section officially opened, meaning passengers from University Station can now travel directly to Admiralty on Hong Kong Island without changing trains — the most significant expansion of the station's commuter catchment since electrification in 1983. The East Rail line Harbour Crossing formed the second phase of the Shatin to Central Link project, extending the line from Hung Hom Station to Admiralty Station via the newly built Exhibition Centre Station^※ (per a Hong Kong Government press release).

After the Harbour Crossing opened, the East Rail line became Hong Kong's fourth cross-harbour railway^※ (per the Hong Kong Government press release). University Station passengers can now ride in a single journey to the core commercial and government district on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, without needing to change at Hung Hom or Kowloon Tong as they previously did. The East Rail line also introduced new-generation nine-car Hyundai Rotem trains (R-Stock)^※ at the same time, replacing the earlier twelve-car sets (per Wikipedia: East Rail line).

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# How should we understand the "symbiotic" relationship between University Station and CUHK?

University Station is not just another ancillary facility on the CUHK campus — it is a railway station that was born for a college, renamed for a university, and given a new exit for an academic reform. Almost every physical transformation it has undergone is directly tied to the rhythms of CUHK's growth. From Chung Chi College's arrival at Ma Liu Shui in 1956, to the formal founding of the University in 1963, to the expansion of undergraduate intake under the four-year system in 2012, and through to the present day — when tens of thousands of staff and students pour daily through four exits into this hillside university — the interlocking of railway gateway and campus destiny forms the most distinctive thread in CUHK's transport history.

At the same time, University Station is the interface through which the University has plugged into Hong Kong's urban rail network: from three trains a day at Ma Liu Shui, to dense frequencies after electrification, to the direct link onto Hong Kong Island opened up by the Harbour Crossing. With every successive wave of railway technology and route development, the commuting time — and the psychological distance — "from CUHK to the city" has kept shrinking.

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