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from the ticket-vending machines to the turnstiles is automated. The system uses the stored-value Octopus card (Click here), really the only way to go, and single-journey tickets with a magnetic coding strip on the back. When you pass through the turnstile, the card is encoded with the station identification and time. At the other end, the exit turnstile sucks in the ticket, reads where you came from, the time you bought the ticket and how much you paid. If everything is in order, it will let you through. If you have underpaid (by mistake or otherwise), you can make up the difference at an MTR service counter; there are no fines since no one gets out without paying. Once you’ve passed through the turnstile to begin a journey you have 90 minutes to complete it before the ticket becomes invalid.

Ticket prices range from $4 to $23.50 ($3.60 and $20.70 with an Octopus card); children and seniors pay between $3 and $11.50 ($2.30 and $10.40 with a card), depending on the destination. Ticket machines accept $10 and $20 notes and $10, $5, $2, $1 and 50c coins, and they dispense change. The machines have a touch screen with highlighted destinations. You can also buy tickets from MTR service counters and get change from the Hang Seng Bank branches located in most stations.

Smoking, eating and drinking are not permitted in MTR stations or on the trains, and violators are subject to a fine of $5000. You are not allowed to carry large objects or bicycles aboard trains either, though backpacks and suitcases are fine.

There are no toilets in any of the MTR stations. Like the 90-minute limit on a ticket’s validity, the reasoning behind this is to get bodies into stations, bums on seats (or hands on straps) and bodies out onto the street again as quickly as possible. The system works, and very few people complain.

MTR exit signs use an alphanumerical system and there can be as many as a dozen to choose from. We give the correct exit for sights and destinations wherever possible, but you may find yourself studying the exit table from time to time and scratching your head. There are always maps of the local area at each exit.

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Overland Lines

The overland network (formerly known as the Kowloon-Canton Railway or KCR) is made up of two lines. The MTR East Rail, which commenced in 1910, is a single-line, 43km-long commuter railway running from the new East Tsim Sha Tsui station in southern Kowloon to Lo Wo on the border with mainland China, plus a new spur to Lok Ma Chau (also on the border). The terminus of the new spur connects to the new Shenzhen Metro system at Huanggang station via a pedestrian bridge across the Shenzhen River.

The tracks are the same as those used by the express trains to cities in Guangdong province, as well as to Shanghai and Beijing, but the trains are different and look more like MTR carriages. Ma On Shan Rail, which branches off from the MTR East Rail at Tai Wai and serves nine stations, opened in December 2004 but is of limited use to travellers.

The 30.5km MTR West Rail line links Nam Cheong station in Sham Shui Po with Tuen Mun via Yuen Long, stopping at nine stations. It is linked to the MTR East Rail at East Tsim Sha Tsui and Austin (from where it’s also possible to connect to Kowloon station for the Airport Express and Tung Chung lines).

The overland lines of the MTR make a quick way to get to the New Territories, and the ride offers some nice vistas, particularly between the Chinese University and Tai Po Market stations on the MTR East Rail. You can transfer from the MTR underground lines to the MTR East Rail at Tsim Sha Tsui and Kowloon Tong stations. On the MTR West Rail, there is interchange with the Tung Chung MTR line at Nam Cheong, with the Tsuen Wan line at Mei Foo and with the Light Rail (see below) at Yuen Long, Tin Shui Wai, Siu Hong and Tuen Mun.

Overland trains run every four to 14 minutes, except during rush hour when they depart every three to eight minutes. The first MTR East Rail train leaves East Tsim Sha Tsui at 5.28am and the last departs from Lo Wu