Escalator, Walkway System Approved For Braemar Hill

The government has given the green light to an escalator and walkway system to link the Fortress Hill MTR station with the top of Braemar Hill – after considering the plan for over a decade.

However, no concrete details were given for the design of the system, its cost, or when construction would be finished.

The plan consists of a series of lifts, escalators and moving walkways – in what would be the second system of its kind on Hong Kong Island after the Central-Mid-Levels Escalator and Walkway System, which opened in 1993.

The CEO of Designing Hong Kong, Paul Zimmerman, welcomed the plan, saying it would boost the walkability of the area, and hopefully cut down traffic and air pollution.

He noted that the mostly residential area is currently highly reliant on private cars.

“They are probably going to benefit because – if everything is done right – you’re going to have less congestion on the roads”, he said.

Zimmerman said the degree of the improvement on traffic would depend largely on how many students from schools in the area elect to use the new system, to cut down on the number of buses that frequent the area.

He also said the devil is in the details, saying Hong Kong has a tendency to prioritise function over design, meaning such a system could be “raw and rudimentary”.

“You’ve got to be careful because the infrastructure footprint can be enormous and can be poorly done, and can have a lot of negative impacts.”

He urged the authorities to focus more on a light and elegant design rather than raw functionality, and said they should also consider building more such systems in other hilly areas around Hong Kong.