So, Monkey had come to Hong Kong for a spot of light exploring, as you do. On this occasion we were joined by two friends he had chanced to meet in his hostel the night before. They'd spent that night climbing round a half built TBM and seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It only seemed right to take them to something a bit more committed..
This was supposed to be a revisit to the Hong Kong park ventilation building I posted back in May last year, on arrival however things had progressed considerably. What had been a significant hole in the ground was now an equally significant building, this meant that the scaffolding that had afforded access last time was no longer there and we were instead forced to climb roughly ten stories of pitch black ladders into the ventilation shaft.
Things didn't get any better at the bottom either, after another four stories worth of stairs we reached what had been access to the tracks and were confronted with a very new door with a sign, telling us that the tracks were energised and the power was on. Even worse it was locked and wasn't moving.
After trudging back up a couple of flights of stairs I turned off into one of the side rooms, meaning to show everyone the size of the space we were in. From the bottom it's possible to look all the way to the top and see just how massive the vent really is. I'm glad to say that what we found was far more interesting.
It seems while I'd been away a new tunnel has been broken through. Suddenly a fail was looking to be a great success.
Above you can see the waterproofing layer before the concrete lining is cast in place
By this point I was pretty nervous, the MTR constructions are generally working 24/7, and the two previous times I'd been down this shaft had both ended with a run from workers. The older Admiralty station which this is extending is already a main hub and we were an hour before the end of service there.
Despite noises from the various pumps and ventilation systems, it seemed that the site had shut for Chinese new year.
On the plan above you can see that there will eventually be two pairs of tracks meeting here along with what I think will be a reversing loop.
Looking through one of the cross tunnels.
The three pictures above will be the middle level of the new station, with one line running above and one below. The next will be the escalator to the line below
Finally, back out along the other leg of the tunnel and the view up the shaft I was looking for in the first place.
Cheers!
This was supposed to be a revisit to the Hong Kong park ventilation building I posted back in May last year, on arrival however things had progressed considerably. What had been a significant hole in the ground was now an equally significant building, this meant that the scaffolding that had afforded access last time was no longer there and we were instead forced to climb roughly ten stories of pitch black ladders into the ventilation shaft.
Things didn't get any better at the bottom either, after another four stories worth of stairs we reached what had been access to the tracks and were confronted with a very new door with a sign, telling us that the tracks were energised and the power was on. Even worse it was locked and wasn't moving.
After trudging back up a couple of flights of stairs I turned off into one of the side rooms, meaning to show everyone the size of the space we were in. From the bottom it's possible to look all the way to the top and see just how massive the vent really is. I'm glad to say that what we found was far more interesting.
It seems while I'd been away a new tunnel has been broken through. Suddenly a fail was looking to be a great success.
Above you can see the waterproofing layer before the concrete lining is cast in place
By this point I was pretty nervous, the MTR constructions are generally working 24/7, and the two previous times I'd been down this shaft had both ended with a run from workers. The older Admiralty station which this is extending is already a main hub and we were an hour before the end of service there.
Despite noises from the various pumps and ventilation systems, it seemed that the site had shut for Chinese new year.
On the plan above you can see that there will eventually be two pairs of tracks meeting here along with what I think will be a reversing loop.
Looking through one of the cross tunnels.
The three pictures above will be the middle level of the new station, with one line running above and one below. The next will be the escalator to the line below
Finally, back out along the other leg of the tunnel and the view up the shaft I was looking for in the first place.
Cheers!
That's quality mate, looks like your efforts paid off 
