Tai Koo Station

Tai Koo 太古
MTR rapid transit station
Platform 1
Chinese name
Chinese	太古
Literal meaning	Swire
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Tàigǔ Yue: Cantonese Jyutping taai3 ku2 IPA [tʰāːi kǔː] Yale Romanization taai gú
General information
Location	Kornhill, King's Road, Quarry Bay Eastern District, Hong Kong
Coordinates	22°17′05″N 114°12′58″E / 22.2846°N 114.2161°ECoordinates: 22°17′05″N 114°12′58″E / 22.2846°N 114.2161°E
Operated by	MTR Corporation
Line(s)	Island Line
Platforms	2 (island platform)
Connections	Bus, public light bus, tram
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Platform levels	1
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	TAK
History
Opened	31 May 1985
Services
Preceding station   MTR   Following station Quarry Bay towards Kennedy Town Island Line Sai Wan Ho towards Chai Wan
Location
Tai Koo Location within the MTR system

Tai Koo (Chinese: 太古) is a station on the Island Line of the Hong Kong MTR system. The station is located in Kornhill, Quarry Bay on Hong Kong Island and serves the area of Kornhill, including Kornhill Gardens, and Taikoo Shing. Tai Koo has a unique colour scheme; its livery is crimson. Tai Koo station is one of the busiest stations in the system.

The station was named after Taikoo Shing, which was built on the former site of Taikoo Docks. The docks were in turn named after Swire; its Chinese name is also "太古".

History

The Island Line opening ceremony was held in this station in May 1985 and was officiated by then-MTR chairman Sir Wilfrid Newton and Governor of Hong Kong Sir Edward Youde, who unveiled the commemorative plaques at the concourse level. The station is built in what was, at the time of its construction, the largest man-made cavern in Asia.^[1]

Timetable

Line		Destination	First train	Last train
	Island Line	Chai Wan	06:22	01:13
		Kennedy Town	06:03	00:43
Source: MTR[2]

Station layout

Tai Koo adheres to the general layout of most MTR stations. At ground level, there are numerous alphanumerically-named entrances and exits.

Platforms 1 and 2 are arranged in the simple island platform layout. Unlike most of the other underground stations on the Island Line, Tai Koo does not have separate tubes for each track and platform as the station was built in the cut and cover method. This means that although there are escalators and stairs in the middle of the platform, it has an open design and the platforms are not separated. Each platform is equipped with platform screen doors for safety and ventilation reasons.

G Ground	-	Exits
C Concourse	Concourse	customer service, MTRShops
		vending machines, ATM
		Octopus promotion machine
P Platform	Platform 1	Island Line towards Chai Wan (Sai Wan Ho) →
	Island platform, doors will open on the right
	Platform 2	←      Island Line towards Kennedy Town (Quarry Bay)

^[3]

Entrances/exits

There are five groups of entrances and exits at Tai Koo station labeled A to E. In certain circumstances, there are subsets of these exit groups; these are marked with numbers.^[4]

• A: at the northeast corner of King's Road and Kornhill Road
  • A1: for Kornhill Gardens blocks 1-4
  • A2: for Kornhill Plaza North
• B: opposite the intersection of King's Road and Kornhill Road, for Kornhill blocks N-R
• C: between Kornhill Road and Hong On Street, for Kornhill blocks A-M and Kornhill Plaza South
• D: between King's Road and Taikoo Shing Road
  • D1: for Cityplaza, One Island East and East Hong Kong
  • D2: for Cityplaza
• E: at northeastern corner of Kornhill Gardens at King's Road
  • E1: for Cityplaza
  • E2: for Kornhill Gardens blocks 5-6
  • E3: for Kornhill Gardens blocks 7-10

Transport connections

Minibus

To Kornhill

• 33M (at exit B or C)

To Mount Parker Lodge

• 32A (at exit B, E2 or E3)

To Nam Fung Sun Chuen

• 32 (at exit B)

Bus

To Tsz Wan Shan (Central)

• 116 (at exit B)

References

1. Forsyth, Neil, dir. Underground Pride. Mass Transit Railway Corporation, 1990. Film. 21 Nov 2013. Watch on YouTube.
2. "Tai Koo Station timetable" (PDF). MTR Corporation. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
3. "Tai Koo Station layout" (PDF). MTR Corporation. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
4. "Tai Koo Station street map" (PDF). MTR Corporation. Retrieved 31 July 2014.