You understand the reason that they named the largest of the Hong Kong Airport Express Train's new stations "Kowloon." It's not good enough. The fact that it serves HK's Kowloon peninsula is secondary.

Over a million passengers daily already use trains to the modern, firmly standing station named "Kowloon," in Kowloon, on the Kowloon-Canton Railroad (KCR) line.

This station, and Kowloon Tong KCR station, have become your primary gateways to Hong Kong's booming New Territories, which everyone calls the "NT."

You can well imagine that the KCR is busy. More than 2.7 million people live in the NT, many in planned "New Towns." The KCR takes you to their territory.

From NT's KCR stations, a network of buses takes you throughout the rambling, hilly NT landscape and its attractions.

Into NT

Racing north through the railroad tunnel beneath Lion Rock, the distinctive lion-shaped peak you see from downtown Kowloon, you leave behind highrise buildings and bustling urban life.

You pass through the rolling hills of rural Sha Tim, past Tolo Harbor to the fishing town and market center of Tai Po and then through NT countryside to Fanling and Sheung Shui.

You might feel the very faintest touch of nostalgia while riding the Kowloon-Canton Railroad when you reflect that the Chinese city of Canton has been renamed Guangzhou while the KCR expanded its Hong Kong service under its historic name. Its primary operation is state-of-the-art.

The KCR's development has been astonishing in recent years. KCR first opened as a single track line in 1910 and remained relatively quiet (with diesel locomotives replacing steam in 1962) until 1973, when engineers doubled the southern route.

In 1983, electrified double track reached the Chinese border at Lo Wu, and in the 1980s England's Metro-Cammell 360-passenger carriages began service. Now, 12-carriage electric trains race without interruption along KCR's 2-track, 23-mile route carrying up to 4,000 passengers per train.

KCR has been careful to modernize their stations' accesses to accommodate these large passenger loads.

This year KCR is boosting its capacity to 34 trains per hour as engineers complete a more effective signaling scheme.