Tai Koo station

Tai Koo 太古
MTR rapid transit station
Platform 1
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	太古
Simplified Chinese	太古
Hanyu Pinyin	Tàigǔ
Cantonese Yale	Taaigú
Literal meaning	Most historic
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Tàigǔ Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Taaigú Jyutping Taai3Ku2
General information
Location	Kornhill, King's Road, Quarry Bay Eastern District, Hong Kong
Coordinates	22°17′05″N 114°12′58″E
Owned by	MTR Corporation
Operated by	MTR Corporation
Line(s)	Island line
Platforms	2 (1 island platform)
Tracks	2
Connections	Tram Bus, minibus
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Platform levels	1
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	TAK
History
Opened	31 May 1985 (1985-05-31)
Previous names	Kornhill
Services
Preceding station MTR Following station Quarry Bay towards Kennedy Town Island line Sai Wan Ho towards Chai Wan
Track layout to Sai Wan Ho 1 2 to Quarry Bay
Location Tai Koo Location within the MTR system Tai Koo Tai Koo (Hong Kong Island)

Tai Koo (Chinese: 太古; pinyin: Tàigǔ; Cantonese Yale: Taaigú) 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 including Kornhill, Kornhill Gardens and Taikoo Shing. Tai Koo has a unique crimson livery and is one of the busiest stations in the system.

The station was named for Taikoo Shing, the large-scale residential development built on the former site of Taikoo Dockyard, a Swire company, "Taikoo" being the Romanisation of the latter's Chinese name.

History

Dragages et Travaux Publics (later Dragages Hong Kong) was awarded as the contractor of the station and construction began in 1982. The works comprised twin tunnels and a station built in a 24-metre span rock cavern.

Excavation of the station cavern was completed in October 1983.

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 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.

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, but is located in a single tube encompassing both the concourse and the platform. Although it was not built in the cut and cover method, it is similar to cut and cover stations in 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.

G	Ground level	Exits
C	Concourse	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)

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.

• 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