Lion Rock Tunnel

	This text is about tunnel connecting Kowloon Tong and Sha Tin: For connecting road, see "Lion Rock Tunnel Road". For the Lion Rock Tunnel's Toll Plaza, see "Lion Rock Tunnel Toll Plaza".

The Lion Rock Tunnel (獅子山隧道) connects Kowloon Tong in Kowloon City District and Hin Tin District in Sha Tin District, New Territories, with a total length of about 1.43km. It is the earliest tunnel opened to traffic in Hong Kong and the first driving tunnel connecting Kowloon and New Territories East. It is part of the Lion Rock Tunnel Road.

In a broad sense, "Lion Rock Tunnel" generally refers to the two tunnels of the tunnel; in a narrow sense, "Lion Rock Tunnel" is just the name of the southbound tunnel that was built first. The northbound tunnel that was later completed is officially called the "Second Lion Rock Tunnel". However, the general public, the media, and the government directly refer to the two as the "Lion Rock Tunnel" and rarely describe them separately.

Currently, Chun Wo Tunnel Management Co., Ltd. is responsible for the management of the Lion Rock Tunnel, effective from 1 August 2018, with a six-year contract.

History[]

The demand for water in Hong Kong increased dramatically in the 1960s. In 1963, Hong Kong suffered a severe drought. On 2 May, Hong Kong implemented a four-hour water supply restriction every four days. With the water shortage crisis imminent, the Water Supplies Bureau under the Government Works Bureau overcame the geographical barrier of Lion Rock and built the first Lion Rock Tunnel together with three water pipes to supply water from the Sha Tin Water Treatment Works in the Plover Cove Reservoir Water Supply Project to the urban area of Kowloon.

The Lion Rock Tunnel opened to traffic on 14 November, 1967, becoming the first traffic tunnel in Hong Kong. There is only one pipeline connecting Sha Tin and Kowloon, which is the current southbound pipeline. The first bus route passing through the Lion Rock Tunnel was KMB Route 19, which ran between Jordan Road Ferry Pier and Sheung Shui. It was opened on 27 January of the following year. As the demand for traffic and drinking water increased, the second Lion Rock Tunnel and the two fresh water pipes in the tunnel were also built in 1978. The original pipe was changed to one-way southbound, and the new pipe was one-way northbound.

Tide Driving[]

At 3:30 a.m. on 8 March, 2012, a three-alarm fire broke out in the underground water pipe of the southbound pipeline during maintenance work. It burned for 9 hours, causing the concrete on the pipeline surface to peel off and the steel bars to be exposed; the Transport Department decided to report the fire The southbound pipeline to Kowloon was closed for 4 days, during which only the northbound pipeline was opened for single-tube two-way traffic. On 12 March, the express line of the southbound pipeline was reopened and tidal traffic was implemented. With the slow line of the southbound pipeline reopening on 19 March, normal traffic has resumed.

Situation of Use[]

The designed traffic volume of the Lion Rock Tunnel is 2,600 vehicles per hour in each direction. In 2019, the utilization rate during peak hours was 1.0 (Northbound) and 1.0 (Southbound).

Before the Lion Tunnel was opened to traffic, Tai Po Road (now known as Tai Po Road - Piper's Hill and Sha Tin Heights Section) was the most direct route between the New Territories East and urban Kowloon. After the Lion Tunnel opened to traffic, it replaced Tai Po Road. With the development of new towns in Sha Tin and New Territories East, the importance of the Lion Rock Tunnel has continued to increase. Since the 1980s, congestion has often occurred during peak hours.

The toll fare for all vehicles passing through the Lion Rock Tunnel is $8, and it leads directly to the Hung Hom Cross-Harbour Tunnel, which runs from north to south of Hong Kong. Although the Tate's Cairn Tunnel and Tsing Sha Highway were subsequently completed, it still attracts many drivers to choose it.

Route Information[]

Note that Route * stops at the Lion Rock Tunnel Toll Plaza.

Southbound (To Kowloon)[]

Franchised Bus Route Information via Lion Rock Tunnel Road (To Kowloon)
Operator(s)	Route	Starting Point	Terminus	Service Times
KMB	72X*	Tai Po Central	Mong Kok (Park Avenue)	Service daily ●
KMB	74A*	Tai Po (Tai Wo)	Kai Yip	Service daily ●
KMB	80	Mei Lam	Kwun Tong Ferry	Service daily ●
KMB	80A	Mei Lam	Kwun Tong Ferry (One-way)	Service Mondays to Fridays during Morning Peak Hours, via Kowloon Bay Business Area ●
KMB	80M*	Sui Wo Court	Kowloon Tong Station	Outbound Mondays to Fridays during Morning Peak Hours ●
KMB	80P	Hin Keng	Kwun Tong Ferry (One-way)	Service Mondays to Saturdays during Morning Peak Hours ●
KMB	81C*	Yiu On	Tsim Sha Tsui East (Mody Road)	Outbound Mondays to Saturdays after Morning Peak Hours, holidays whole-day ●
Template:KMB 81S doesn't exist!
KMB	85*	Fo Tan (Shan Mei Street)	Kowloon City Ferry	Service daily ●
KMB	85A*	Kwong Yuen	Kowloon City Ferry	Service daily ●
Template:KMB 85B doesn't exist!
KMB	86	Wong Nai Tau	Mei Foo	Service daily ●
Template:KMB 86A doesn't exist!
Template:KMB 86C doesn't exist!
KMB	87B*	Sun Tin Wai	Island Harbourview	Service daily ●
Template:KMB 87D doesn't exist!
KMB	87E	Nai Chung	Tsim Sha Tsui	Outbound Mondays to Fridays during Morning Peak Hours ●
KMB	89*	Lek Yuen	Kwun Tong (Tsui Ping North Estate)	Service daily ●
KMB	89B	Sha Tin Wai	Ngau Tau Kok	Service daily ●
KMB, Citybus	170*	Sha Tin Station	Wah Fu (Central)	Service daily ●
KMB, Citybus	182	Yu Chui Court	Central (Macau Ferry)	Service daily ●
KMB	270A*	Sheung Shui	Tsim Sha Tsui East (Mody Road)	Service daily ●
Template:KMB 270C doesn't exist!
KMB	271	Tai Po (Fu Heng)	Jordan (West Kowloon Station)	Service daily ●
Template:KMB 271B doesn't exist!
Template:KMB 271P doesn't exist!
KMB	281A	Kwong Yuen	Kowloon Station	Service daily ●
Template:KMB 281B doesn't exist!
Template:KMB 281M doesn't exist!
Template:KMB 281X doesn't exist!
Template:KMB 887 doesn't exist!
Template:KMB 889 doesn't exist!
Template:KMB 891 doesn't exist!
Template:CHT N170 doesn't exist!
KMB, Citybus	N182*	Kwong Yuen	Central (Macau Ferry)	Service daily overnight ●
Template:KMB N271 doesn't exist!
KMB	N281*	Kam Ying Court	Hung Hom Station	Service daily overnight ●
KMB	N373	Fanling (Luen Wo Hui)	Central (Macau Ferry)	Service daily overnight ●

Green Minibus Route Information via Lion Rock Tunnel Road (To Kowloon)
Operator	Route	Starting Point	Terminus	Service Times
Rich Success Transportation	61M	Worldwide Gardens	Tai Wai Station	Service daily ●
Rich Success Transportation	61S	Wo Che (Tak Hau Street)	Mong Kok Station	Service daily overnight ●
Fu San Luen	63S	Mei Tin Estate	Mong Kok	Service daily overnight ●
Easy Well Industrial	65S	Wong Nai Tau	Mong Kok (Bute Street)	Service daily overnight ●
Fully Mint	501S	Sheung Shui (Shek Wu Hui)	Kwun Tong Station (Yue Man Square)	Service daily overnight ●
Honest Profit Corporation	616S	Lok Ma Chau Control Point	Mong Kok (Sai Yeung Choi Street South)	Service daily overnight ●
Kwok Chung Motor Car Limited	805S	Ma On Shan	Mong Kok	Service daily overnight ●

Northbound (To Sha Tin)[]

Franchised Bus Route Information via Lion Rock Tunnel Road (To Sha Tin)
Operator(s)	Route	Starting Point	Terminus	Service Times
KMB	72X*	Mong Kok (Park Avenue)	Tai Po Central	Service daily ●
KMB	74A*	Kai Yip	Tai Po (Tai Wo)	Service daily ●
KMB	80	Kwun Tong Ferry	Mei Lam	Service daily ●
KMB	80M	Kowloon Tong Station	Sui Wo Court	Inbound Mondays to Fridays during Afternoon Peak Hours ●
KMB	81C*	Tsim Sha Tsui East (Mody Road)	Yiu On	Inbound daily ●
KMB	85*	Kowloon City Ferry	Fo Tan (Shan Mei Street)	Service daily ●
KMB	85A*	Kowloon City Ferry	Kwong Yuen	Service daily ●
Template:KMB 85B doesn't exist!
KMB	86	Mei Foo	Wong Nai Tau	Service daily ●
Template:KMB 86A doesn't exist!
Template:KMB 86C doesn't exist!
KMB	87B*	Island Harbourview	Sun Tin Wai	Service daily ●
Template:KMB 87D doesn't exist!
KMB	87E	Tsim Sha Tsui East (Mody Road)	Nai Chung	Inbound Mondays to Fridays during Afternoon Peak Hours ●
Template:KMB 88M doesn't exist!
Citybus (Non-Franchised)	88R	Central	City One Shatin	Service daily, observed in one direction only ●
KMB	89*	Kwun Tong (Tsui Ping North Estate)	Lek Yuen	Service daily ●
KMB	89B	Ngau Tau Kok	Sha Tin Wai	Service daily ●
KMB, Citybus	170*	Wah Fu (Central)	Sha Tin Station	Service daily ●
KMB, Citybus	182	Central (Macau Ferry)	Yu Chui Court	Service daily ●
Template:CHT 182X doesn't exist!
KMB	270A*	Tsim Sha Tsui East (Mody Road)	Sheung Shui	Service daily ●
Template:KMB 270C doesn't exist!
KMB	271	Jordan (West Kowloon Station)	Tai Po (Fu Heng)	Service daily ●
Template:KMB 271B doesn't exist!
Template:KMB 271S doesn't exist!
KMB	281A	Kowloon Station	Kwong Yuen	Service daily ●
Template:KMB 281M doesn't exist!
Template:CHT 373 doesn't exist!
Template:CHT N170 doesn't exist!
KMB, Citybus	N182*	Central (Macau Ferry)	Kwong Yuen	Service daily overnight ●
Template:KMB N271 doesn't exist!
KMB	N281*	Hung Hom Station	Kam Ying Court	Service daily overnight ●
Template:KMB N287 doesn't exist!
KMB	N373	Central (Macau Ferry)	Fanling (Luen Wo Hui)	Service daily overnight ●

Green Minibus Route Information via Lion Rock Tunnel Road (To Sha Tin)
Operator	Route	Starting Point	Terminus	Service Times
Rich Success Transportation	61M	Tai Wai Station	Worldwide Gardens	Service daily ●
Rich Success Transportation	61S	Mong Kok Station	Wo Che (Tak Hau Street)	Service daily overnight ●
Fu San Luen	63S	Mong Kok	Mei Tin Estate	Service daily overnight ●
Easy Well Industrial	65S	Mong Kok (Bute Street)	Wong Nai Tau	Service daily overnight ●
Fully Mint	501S	Kwun Tong Station (Yue Man Square)	Sheung Shui (Shek Wu Hui)	Service daily overnight ●
Honest Profit Corporation	616S	Mong Kok (Sai Yeung Choi Street South)	Lok Ma Chau Control Point	Service daily overnight ●
Kwok Chung Motor Car Limited	805S	Mong Kok	Ma On Shan	Service daily overnight ●

Future Development[]

As early as 2008, the Highways Department had planned to comprehensively renovate the Lion Rock Tunnel.

In 2019, the Highways Department submitted an environmental impact assessment report on the Lion Rock Tunnel improvement project, including the construction of a new pipeline between the two pipelines, the renovation of the existing pipeline, the expansion of the Lion Rock Tunnel Toll Plaza bus stop and the widening of the Lion Rock Tunnel Toll Plaza, Lion Rock Tunnel Road, and Sha Tin Road to have three lanes each in the round-trip direction to extend their service life and improve traffic conditions during peak hours.

Gallery[]

External Links[]

Dragages HK: Lion Rock Tunnel – Phases I & II

Template:Lion Rock Tunnel Bus Routes Template:List of tunnels and bridges Template:Hong Kong's main routes