Hong Kong’s Chief Executive in Council approved the financial arrangement for Part 2 of the Northern Link on November 10, and the government and the MTR Corporation signed the project agreement for the full railway the same day. The Main Line and the Spur Line have now fully entered construction, targeting simultaneous commissioning by 2034 or sooner.
The verified capital cost of Part 2 is about HK$54.8 billion. Together with Part 1, the whole project is estimated at about HK$86.2 billion in July 2025 prices, 28 percent below the original estimate. The government attributes the reduction to new railway standards, building plan handling times cut by 30 to 50 percent, and building the two lines as one project, which also brings the Spur Line’s opening forward by two years.
The Main Line is a 10.7 kilometre underground railway with five stations, linking Kam Sheung Road on the Tuen Ma Line with Kwu Tung on the East Rail Line and cutting the peak hour journey between them from 60 minutes to about 12 minutes. The Spur Line runs about 6 kilometres from San Tin to Huanggang Port in Shenzhen, of which about 1.1 kilometres is in Shenzhen, with three stations and an expected San Tin to Huanggang journey of about 11 minutes.
Funding follows Hong Kong’s rail plus property model. The Executive Council approved granting MTR eight sites in the Ngau Tam Mei, San Tin and Kwu Tung North areas and part of a site in the proposed Au Tau New Development Area for residential and commercial development, with a fixed lump sum deducted from the land premium to help fund Part 2. MTR has described the Northern Link as the most expensive construction project it has undertaken.