Austin station was built as part of the Kowloon Southern Link project, built to connect the West Rail line and East Rail line. KCR Corporation originally planned two stations along the new section of line: Austin and Canton Road stations. The latter station was cancelled due to failed negotiations with private landowners. As a result, Austin was the only new station built as part of the Kowloon Southern Link scheme. It is also the first KCR-owned station to be opened after the MTR took over operations of the KCR network.
During the planning and early construction stages, the station was called "West Kowloon station" (Chinese:九龍西站).[2] The construction contract KDB200 (West Kowloon Station and Tunnels – Jordan Road to East Tsim Sha Tsui Station) was awarded to the Leighton-Balfour Beatty-Kumagai-John Holland Joint Venture (renamed to "Link 200 Joint Venture" on 9 August 2005) for an estimated contract sum of HK$2.018billion. This station is part of this contract. Construction was finished in July 2009 and the station opened on 16 August that year. It was named after Austin Road.
It was located adjacent to the Canton Road Government Offices until that structure was demolished in 2011.[3] An MTR residential property development, The Austin, was subsequently constructed on the site of the former government offices.
A direct connection between Austin station and the West Kowloon Terminus was opened on 23 September 2018.
A new underground pedestrian link between Austin station and Xiqu Centre, a Chinese opera house, was opened on 21 March 2021.
On 27 June 2021, the West Rail line officially merged with the Ma On Shan line (which was already extended into the Tuen Ma line Phase 1 at the time) in East Kowloon to form the new Tuen Ma line, as part of the Shatin to Central link project. Hence, Austin was included in the project and is now an intermediate station on the Tuen Ma line.
Platform 1 of Austin station in April 2014Platform 1 of Austin station in July 2017Platform 1 of Austin station in June 2021Platform 1 of Austin station in December 2023
The station has two tracks and one island platform.[4] The surface station building is divided into two parts by Wui Cheung Road.[5]
By interchanging between Kowloon and Austin stations, Airport Express passengers using Octopus cards can connect to the MTR urban lines for free, immediately before or after the Airport Express journey.[6] Airport Express passengers can travel around the two stations by walking through Exit B5 of this station or using the complimentary Airport Express shuttle bus service. However, it only provides out-of-system connection to Kowloon station for Tung Chung line passengers with gate charges.
Exits A and F are respectively connected with the pedestrian subways at the Jordan Road and the Austin Road junctions with Canton Road. But unlike cases like the subway at the Ngau Tau Kok station, the other exits of these two subways connected to Austin are not numbered.[7][8][9][10]
Stations that are proposed, under planning or under construction are shown in italics.
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MTR rapid transit station
