With the new extension, passengers can reach the commercial, convention & exhibition, and financial hubs in the Wan Chai North and Admiralty areas on the East Rail Line without interchanging.

It will be the fourth cross-harbor railway route. The estimated transit time from Hung Hom to Admiralty will be shortened from 19 minutes to 7 minutes. And the transit time from Admiralty to Kowloon Tong will be cut to 13 minutes.

The extension section of the East Rail line from Hung Hom to Admiralty, via the new Exhibition Centre station, will see the rail line extending to approximately 46km through 16 stations.

In addition, MTR will replace all the 12-car trains on East Rail line with the new nine carriages train on May 7.

There will be new East Rail Line platforms at Hung Hom and Admiralty stations. Construction works of the new station and new platforms have been substantially completed, MTR said.

As the new terminal station of the East Rail Line, Admiralty Station will become the one and only four-line-interchanging mega station in the MTR network. East Rail Line passengers arriving at Admiralty Station can interchange to other lines with new escalators connecting different levels of the station without exiting the paid area.

And for the new Exhibition Centre Station, it is a three-level underground station comprising a station concourse and two platform levels. Adjacent to the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre and connecting to the nearby commercial buildings with the Wan Chai footbridge network.

The East Rail Line cross-harbor extension started its trial operations on February 1. The extension section was initially targeted for commissioning between June and July.

In October last year, the MTR Corp announced that the project would be delayed for a third time until June or July because of setbacks caused by signaling glitches.