Confetti gun salutes first train to run on Hong Kong’s Ma On Shan line – from SCMP archive

By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-12-21 01:19:48 | Updated at 2024-12-21 04:13:37 2 hours ago
Truth

This article was first published on December 22, 2004.

By Elaine Wu

The school holidays ensured a bumper turnout of enthusiastic boys to back up the dignitaries cheering off the first train on the new $10 billion Ma On Shan rail line, which departed the Tai Wai terminus yesterday afternoon with great fanfare.

Most of those leading the queue for the first ride were teenage boys with cameras dangling from their necks.

They raced up the platform to take seats in the leading carriage and let loose screams at various points during the ride.

Primary Five student Chan Chun-ho had come all the way from his Tsing Yi home with his mother to ride the first train - and he wasn’t disappointed. “It was very fast and convenient. The atmosphere was good,” he said.

 Martin Chan

Financial secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen (centre), accompanied by KCRC chairman Michael Tien Puk-sun (left), officiates at the Ma On Shan rail line on December 21, 2004. Photo: Martin Chan
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