Kowloon–Canton Railway resources

This page is under construction!

 

This page lists some primary sources that may be of interest to those researching the Kowloon–Canton Railway or the KCR Corporation, a significant transport operator in 20th-century Hong Kong. Although the Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation still exists on paper, its transport operations were merged in 2007 with those of Hong Kong’s primary railway company, the MTR Corporation.

Annual reports

Most of KCR’s post-war annual reports have been digitised and are viewable on the MMIS platform of the Hong Kong Public Libraries:

Books

  • Phillips, R. J. (1990). Kowloon–Canton Railway (British Section) – A History. Urban Council.
    Digitised version on Hong Kong Public Libraries website. This publication was commissioned by the Urban Council in 1982 and released in time for the railway’s 80th anniversary.

  • Hirsch, R. (2007). Managing Railway Operations and Maintenance: Best Practices from KCRC. University of Birmingham Press.

Control room of the Kowloon-Canton Railway in the 1990s

East Rail Highlights

199? – 2003, 132 issues

A monthly passenger newsletter called KCR Highlights was established in the early 1990s. A simplified "campus edition", published in parallel and aimed at a student readership, was introduced in 1994. After the heavy rail service was named East Rail in 1996, the newsletter was accordingly retitled East Rail Highlights. An online edition was established later. East Rail Highlights and the Light Rail Newsletter were replaced by a new newsletter, KCRC Highlights, in January 2004.

KCRC Highlights

The West Rail commenced service in December 2003. Rather than establishing a third monthly passenger newsletter to serve West Rail passengers, the existing East Rail Highlights and Light Rail Newsletter were discontinued and replaced by the all-encompassing KCRC Highlights, launched in January 2004.

 

KCRC Projects Update

Published on an irregular basis, KCRC Projects Update was another simple corporate newsletter that covered KCR’s ongoing construction and network expansion projects.

Light Rail Newsletter

1989 – 2003, 175 issues

Launched in May 1989 as the LRT Newsletter, this monthly publication was geared toward passengers of the light rail system that serves the north-western New Territories. Upon launch, the newsletter was distributed through district offices and light rail customer service counters. As with KCR Highlights, a simplified "campus edition", published in parallel and aimed at a student readership, was introduced in 1994. An online edition was established later. The Light Rail Newsletter and East Rail Highlights were replaced by a new newsletter, KCRC Highlights, in January 2004.

 

Press releases

Older press releases published by KCRC were hosted on the corporation’s website as recently as 2018. Unfortunately, these appear to have been removed. Many can be viewed through the Wayback Machine, an archive of old websites maintained by the Internet Archive, but there are many broken links. I will attempt to collect working links on the below sub-pages:

 

Trackrecord

1990 – 2007, 181 issues

Beginning in 1983, KCR Corporation published a newspaper-style staff publication called “KCR News”. This was replaced in June 1990 by staff magazine Trackrecord (策力), which was initially published on a bi-monthly basis. Publication frequency later increased to 10 issues per year, until it became a monthly magazine in 1999.

Cover of 1998 edition of KCR staff newsletter Trackrecord.

Trackrecord does not appear to have been digitised. The Hong Kong Studies department of the University Library at the Chinese University of Hong Kong carries an incomplete set of printed issues from the early 1990s to the 2007 rail merger. The Newspapers and Periodicals Section of the Hong Kong Central Library carries several issues from 1999 onward. The University of Hong Kong Library appears to carry the 2004 to 2007 period.

 

Transmark records

Transportation Systems and Market Research Limited, operating as Transmark, was established in 1969 as a subsidiary of British Rail. Transmark was a key design consultant for the KCR’s electrification and double-tracking programme which saw the railway’s line and stations largely reconstructed in the early 1980s.

Transmark was sold to a private corporation in 1993. Records of the company’s business are held by the U.K. National Archives.

 

Videos

  • KCR East Rail Refurbishment (1999). 12 min.
    View on YouTube: English
    Commissioned by Alstom. Describes the refurbishment, in the late 1990s, of the East Rail’s original fleet of Metro Cammell EMUs, which were introduced in 1982.

  • East Rail Extensions. Year unknown. 33 min.
    View on YouTube: English / Chinese
    Commissioned by KCRC. Covers three projects of the early 2000s, namely: the extension of the East Rail to Tsim Sha Tsui, the Ma On Shan Rail, and the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line.

  • West Rail 1998-2003 (2005?). Focal Point Productions. 58 min.
    View on YouTube: English / Chinese
    Commissioned by KCRC. Details the construction and commissioning of the West Rail project. It may also be known as "West Rail: From Groundbreaking to Opening” (to be confirmed).