Work started on the project in 2011 and at 5.55am on 28 December 2016, the first passengers boarded the first train headed towards the newly expanded Admiralty Station on the new South Island Line.

The project involved the extension of the existing Admiralty Station, new rail tunnels and platforms, as well as adding a major below-ground interchange concourse and circulation area to the station.

Laing O’Rourke Project Director Viv Jones said he was extremely proud of the team that delivered this city-shaping project.

“The first train arriving into the station was the accumulation of five and a half years of hard work and a fantastic achievement by the Kier-Laing O’Rourke-Kaden team,” Mr Jones said.

The project included the excavation of 840,000 tonnes of soft and hard rock in the heart of one of the world’s most densely populated cities and involved the application of a number of techniques including drill and break, drill and split, hand breaking and blasting.

“With trains operating around us, arriving and departing every 43 seconds in a city that moves 43 million people a day, we had to plan our work precisely and leave nothing to chance,” Mr Jones added.

“We brought in specialist personnel and equipment from around the world to manage what has been, one of the most complex and challenging projects of its kind.”

During construction, the project was named New Civil Engineer’s International Specialist Tunnelling Project of the Year.

Hong Kong’s new South Island Line is a medium-capacity railway connecting the current MTR network from Admiralty Station to the Southern District of Hong Kong, via new stations at Ocean Park, Wong Chuk Hang, Lei Tung and South Horizons.

With this project complete, Admiralty Station now as an interchange station for four MTR lines, namely the existing Island Line and Tsuen Wan Line as well as the new South Island Line and the Shatin (in the New Territories) to Central Line.