Prince Edward station

Prince Edward (Chinese: 太子; Cantonese Yale: Taaijí) is a station of the MTR rapid transit system in Hong Kong. It is located in Mong Kok, Kowloon, under the intersection of Nathan Road and Prince Edward Road West. The station is named after this road.

Prince Edward 太子
MTR rapid transit station
Platforms 4 (foreground) and 3 (background)
Chinese name
Chinese	太子
Jyutping	Taai3zi2
Hanyu Pinyin	Tàizǐ
Literal meaning	Prince
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Tàizǐ Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Taaizí IPA [tʰāːitsǐː] Jyutping Taai3zi2
General information
Location	Nathan Road × Prince Edward Road West, Mong Kok Yau Tsim Mong District Hong Kong
Coordinates	22°19′28″N 114°10′06″E
Operated by	MTR Corporation
Line(s)	Kwun Tong line      Tsuen Wan line
Platforms	4 (2 island platforms)
Connections	Bus, public light bus, Mainland coach
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Platform levels	2 (excluding concourse)
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	PRE
History
Opened	10 May 1982
Services
Preceding station MTR Following station Mong Kok towards Central Tsuen Wan line Sham Shui Po towards Tsuen Wan Mong Kok towards Whampoa Kwun Tong line Shek Kip Mei towards Tiu Keng Leng
Track layout to Shek Kip Mei to Sham Shui Po 1 4 P1 (upper) Prince Edward 2 3 P2 (lower) 3 4 P1 (upper) Mong Kok 1 2 P2 (lower) 2 3 P1 (upper) Yau Ma Tei 1 4 P2 (lower) to Ho Man Tin to Jordan
Location
Prince Edward Location within the MTR system

History

As Prince Edward was primarily designed as a cross-platform interchange between the Kwun Tong and Tsuen Wan lines, although the Kwun Tong line tracks had already been built in 1979, the station was not used until the opening of the Tsuen Wan line on 10 May 1982. During the first week of operation, the station served only as an interchange with no exits to the concourse or street level. On 17 May 1982, all the station's exits were opened.

Prince Edward station attack

During the evening of 31 August 2019, amid the anti-extradition bill protests, the Hong Kong Police stormed Prince Edward station and were filmed beating passengers and firing pepper spray inside railway carriages.[1] The MTR closed the station during the incident, while the police refused to let medics enter.[2] The station subsequently became a flashpoint for continued discord, with protesters petitioning MTR to release CCTV footage from the evening of 31 August.[3] The incident at Prince Edward, as well as MTR's perceived kowtowing to Beijing (by closing stations near protests in the aftermath of criticism by Chinese state media for remaining operational), led to vandalism of other MTR stations. MTR condemned the vandalism and responded that the relevant CCTV footage would be kept for three years.[4]

Location

Prince Edward station and Mong Kok station are the two closest stations in Hong Kong. They are only 400 metres (1,300 ft) apart and a train takes less than one minute to travel from one station to the other.

Station layout

G	Ground level	Exits
C	Concourse	Customer Service, MTRshops
		Vending machines, Automatic teller machines
		Octopus Promotion Machine
P1 Platform	Platform 1	→      Tsuen Wan line towards Tsuen Wan (Sham Shui Po) →
	Island platform, doors will open on the right
	Platform 2	←      Kwun Tong line towards Whampoa (Mong Kok)
P2 Platform	Platform 4	←      Tsuen Wan line towards Central (Mong Kok)
	Island platform, doors will open on the left
	Platform 3	→      Kwun Tong line towards Tiu Keng Leng (Shek Kip Mei) →

Prince Edward is an opposite-directional cross-platform interchange station for the southbound Kwun Tong line passengers going towards Tsuen Wan and the southbound Tsuen Wan line passengers going towards Tiu Keng Leng. Mong Kok serves as the cross-platform interchange station for passengers travelling in the same direction.[5]

Livery

The station's colour is light purple because of its association as a regal colour.[6]

Entrances and exits

All exits are within one block of Nathan Road, stretching from Prince Edward Road in the south to Playing Field Road in the north.[7] Prince Edward Station is primarily an interchange rather than a destination since there are only seven exits; the neighbouring Mong Kok has fifteen.[8]

Transport connections

Cross-border bus services

There are stops of cross-border buses to Shenzhen, Dongguan, and Guangzhou on Playing Field Road (exit A) or Portland Street (exits C2 and D).

See also

• Prince Edward, Hong Kong
• 2019 Prince Edward station attack

References

1. Chan, Holmes (1 September 2019). "Violence erupts across Hong Kong as police fire 'warning shots,' MTR closes 5 lines and officers storm train carriage". Hong Kong Free Press. Archived from the original on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
2. Tong, Elson (1 September 2019). "Hong Kong reels from chaos: 3 MTR stations remain closed, police defend storming trains, more demos planned". Hong Kong Free Press. Archived from the original on 1 September 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
3. Chan, Holmes (6 September 2019). "Hong Kong lawmaker and protesters demand CCTV footage of police storming MTR station". Hong Kong Free Press. Archived from the original on 6 September 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
4. "MTR Does Not Tolerate Any Violence or Malicious Act Causing Damage" (PDF). MTR Corporation. 8 September 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 November 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
5. "Prince Edward Station layout" (PDF). MTR Corporation. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
6. Ben Pang (17 November 2016). "Why are Hong Kong's MTR stations different colours? Central is red for a reason, and why Prince Edward is purple might surprise you". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 2 November 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
7. "Prince Edward Station street map" (PDF). MTR Corporation. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
8. "Mong Kok Station street map" (PDF). MTR Corporation. Retrieved 29 July 2014.