MTR West Island Line to open by end of year - but will skip Sai Ying Pun

The West Island Line connecting Sheung Wan to Kennedy Town will open on schedule at the end of December - but without the Sai Ying Pun station because of construction problems at its exits.

The MTR Corporation said yesterday that the 3-kilometre project, which began in 2009, was 98 per cent complete, but "difficult ground conditions" in Sai Ying Pun had delayed completion of the exits. The station will not open until March.

"We will be opening the West Island Line using our back-up plan, with Kennedy Town and University of Hong Kong stations, at the end of December," the MTR's acting chief executive Lincoln Leong said.

He said an exact date for the line's opening would be announced in early December after final preparations were complete and approval given.

The company used a ground-freezing method - which is slower than conventional excavation - for the three problem exits at First Street, Second Street and Ki Ling Lane in Sai Ying Pun.

This method involves stabilising soft soil by freezing groundwater using heat-extraction pipes that are sunk into the soil.