Govt launches Hong Kong Railway Standards and Railway Checking Unit to speed up projects and cut costs

The government on Monday unveiled the new Hong Kong Railway Standards and set up a dedicated Railway Checking Unit (RCU) to streamline approvals, introduce innovative technologies and international references, and reduce construction time and costs for future rail lines.

Director of Highways Tony Yau Kwok-ting explained that the standards incorporate advanced construction machinery, techniques, materials, equipment, and methods, guided by clear performance-based criteria.

Combined with simplified procedures and a single-window approval process, the changes aim to accelerate projects, improve efficiency, promote open competition, and lower overall costs.

He highlighted that the first project to apply the new standards, the Northern Link main line and spur line, will now be built as a single integrated contract, with expected savings of around 20 per cent in both time and cost.

The standards consolidate existing fragmented requirements previously scattered across ordinances such as the Buildings Ordinance, Electricity Ordinance, and Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance, as well as MTR’s internal guidelines, which mainly followed British and European practices.

The updated version fully retains these while incorporating adapted elements from mainland China, the United States, Japan, and other places after local tailoring.

Commissioner for Northern Metropolis Railways Raymond Ip Wai-man said the standards cover every aspect, including civil engineering, structures, architectural planning, construction, rail systems, operations, and maintenance.

Practical benefits include consolidating equipment rooms to save space, adopting Modular Integrated Construction (MiC), standardizing components to cut procurement expenses, ensuring compatibility for cross-border signalling and communications, and introducing high-performance tunnel boring machines and efficient materials.

Yau noted the standards should attract new design consultants, contractors, equipment suppliers, and even operators by providing clear, performance-focused rules instead of favoring traditional methods.

This could broaden competition and encourage global suppliers to improve supply chains for Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area.

The Northern Link and the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Rail Link will be the first new lines to adopt the standards.

For the latter, tenders can propose compliance with national standards or another single standard, provided costs are low enough and requirements are met.

The RCU targets cutting first plan submission approvals from 60 to 30 days and amendments from 30 to 21 days, with key performance indicators requiring at least 90 percent completion within these timeframes.

A monitoring and intervention mechanism escalates unresolved major issues after 15 days to Assistant Director level for timely resolution.

MTR welcomed the initiative, saying it will collaborate closely with the unit, apply the standards appropriately on the Northern Link as a priority, and continue adopting innovation to deliver safe, reliable, and efficient rail services.