Mei Foo station

Mei Foo station
Mei Foo station
Former name (1982-1985)
Traditional Chinese	荔灣
Simplified Chinese	荔湾
Literal meaning	Lychee bay
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Lìwān
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization	Laih wāan
Jyutping	Lai6 waan1

Track layout
	Legend
	Tsuen
	Wan West
	Nam
	Cheong

Mei Foo

美孚
Mei Foo; 美孚
MTR rapid transit station
	Station exterior (Tuen Ma line building near exit G)
Chinese name
Chinese	美孚
Cantonese Yale	Méih fū
Literal meaning	Mobil
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Měifú
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization	Méih fū
Jyutping	Mei5 fu1
General information
Location	Tsuen Wan line : Mount Sterling, Mei Foo Sun Chuen, Lai Chi Kok,; Tuen Ma line : Lai Chi Kok Park, Lai Chi Kok,; Sham Shui Po District; Hong Kong
Coordinates	22°20′17″N 114°08′15″E / 22.3381°N 114.1376°E
Owned by	Tsuen Wan line : MTR Corporation; Tuen Ma line : Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation;
Operated by	MTR Corporation
Line(s)	Tsuen Wan line; Tuen Ma line; West Rail line (Until 27 June 2021);
Platforms	4; Tsuen Wan line (1 island platform); Tuen Ma line (2 side platforms);
Tracks	4
Connections	Bus, minibus;
Construction
Structure type	Tsuen Wan line : Underground; Tuen Ma line : Ground, covered and sealed;
Accessible	Yes
Architect	Mass Transit Railway Corporation (Tsuen Wan Line station); Aedas (then known as Liang Peddle Thorp Architects & Planners) and Hong Kong Government city planners (West Rail/Tuen Ma Line station)
Other information
Station code	MEF
History
Opened	Tsuen Wan line : 17 May 1982; 41 years ago; West Rail line : 20 December 2003; 20 years ago;
Electrified	Tsuen Wan line : 1,500 V DC (Overhead line); West Rail line : 25 kV 50 Hz AC (Overhead line);
Previous names	Lai Wan
Services
Track layout
Track layout
	Legend
	Tsuen
	Wan West
	Nam
	Cheong
Location
	Mei Foo Location within the MTR system

Mei Foo (Chinese: 美孚) is a Hong Kong MTR station located in Mei Foo Sun Chuen, Lai Chi Kok, New Kowloon. It is the only interchange station between the Tsuen Wan line and the Tuen Ma line, situated between Lai Chi Kok and Lai King stations on the Tsuen Wan line and Nam Cheong and Tsuen Wan West stations on the Tuen Ma line. Mei Foo station's colour is blue.

The Tsuen Wan line part of the station is a simple through station with a central island platform, located under Mount Sterling Mall, a pedestrian-only street between the rows of residential buildings in the Mei Foo Sun Chuen housing estate. The station is designed to facilitate transport needs of the residents of Mei Foo Sun Chuen housing estate, there are 132 buildings and several schools, and the point of transfer between the Kowloon urban area and the new town of Tsuen Wan. If there is heavy traffic on the main road into urban Kowloon, the Kwai Chung Road, many commuters get off their buses and use this station as their link to Kowloon and Central on Hong Kong Island.

History[edit]

The station's original name was Lai Chi Kok during the planning stage, but upon its opening on 17 May 1982 the station was called "Lai Wan"^[1] (荔灣, short for Lai Chi Kok Bay), and was renamed to its current name on 31 May 1985 when Island line opened.

The West Rail line (then known as KCR West Rail) part of the station was opened on 20 December 2003 along with the rail line. The station is located in the middle of Lai Chi Kok Park, slightly to the west of the Tsuen Wan line's part of the station. The scenery of the park was greatly destroyed during the construction of the station, but the park was subsequently rebuilt over the station complex. The Tsuen Wan line and West Rail line stations merged into one station on 2 December 2007 in the MTR–KCR merger.

On 27 June 2021, the West Rail line officially merged with the Ma On Shan line (which was already extended into the Tuen Ma line Phase 1 at the time) in East Kowloon to form the new Tuen Ma line, as part of the Shatin to Central link project. Hence, Mei Foo was included in the project and is now an intermediate station on the Tuen Ma line.

Layout[edit]

Both Tsuen Wan line platforms share the same island platform. Unlike at Nam Cheong station (where there is one cross-platform interchange between the Tung Chung line and the Tuen Ma line), the Tsuen Wan line and Tuen Ma line platforms are considerably far apart. The concourses for these platforms are a five to ten-minute walk along a connecting passageway.

Although the Tuen Ma line platform is constructed at ground level, like Nam Cheong station, the station and surrounding track is sealed to avoid disturbance to the colocated park.

R	roof garden	Exit G, Lai Chi Kok Park, footbridge to Ching Lai Court, Lai King Hill Road
C	Tuen Ma line concourse	Exit F, customer services, washrooms, shops, vending machines, automatic teller machines
P	side platform
	Platform 1	→ Tuen Ma line towards Tuen Mun (Tsuen Wan West) →
	Platform 2	← Tuen Ma line towards Wu Kai Sha (Nam Cheong)
	side platform
G	passageway	Exit D, Lai Chi Kok Park
G	Tsuen Wan line concourse	Exits A, B, C, E
L1	subway	passageway connecting Tuen Ma line and Tsuen Wan line concourses
L2	Tsuen Wan line concourse	customer service centre, shops, vending machine, automatic teller machines, Octopus promotion machine
L3	Platform 1	→ Tsuen Wan line towards Tsuen Wan (Lai King) →
	island platform
	Platform 2	← Tsuen Wan line towards Central (Lai Chi Kok)