Yau Ma Tei station

Yau Ma Tei (Chinese: 油麻地; Cantonese Yale: Yàumàdéi), formerly called Waterloo after Waterloo Road, is an MTR station located in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon. It is served by the Kwun Tong line and the Tsuen Wan line. The station opened on 22 December 1979 and was renamed as Yau Ma Tei on 31 May 1985 along with Argyle (Mong Kok) and Chater (Central).

Yau Ma Tei 油麻地
MTR rapid transit station
Platform 1
Chinese name
Chinese	油麻地
Jyutping	Jau4maa4dei2
Hanyu Pinyin	Yóumádì
Literal meaning	Sesame oil ground
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Yóumádì Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Yàumàdéi IPA [jɐ̏umȁːtěi] Jyutping Jau4maa4dei2
General information
Location	Nathan Road × Waterloo Road, Yau Ma Tei Yau Tsim Mong District, Hong Kong
Coordinates	22°18′46″N 114°10′15″E
Operated by	MTR Corporation
Line(s)	Tsuen Wan line      Kwun Tong line
Platforms	4 (island platforms)
Connections	Bus, public light bus
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Platform levels	2
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	YMT
History
Opened	22 December 1979 (Kwun Tong line) 10 May 1982 (Tsuen Wan line)
Previous names	Waterloo
Services
Preceding station MTR Following station Jordan towards Central Tsuen Wan line Mong Kok towards Tsuen Wan Ho Man Tin towards Whampoa Kwun Tong line Mong Kok 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
Yau Ma Tei Location within the MTR system

Yau Ma Tei is an interchange station, even though the platforms are not designed for cross-platform interchange. After the Kwun Tong line has been extended to Whampoa, it is used by northbound passengers on one line to change to southbound trains on the other line. This station is used by many students during commuting hours, since it is in the vicinity of many large schools.

The station's livery colour is a light grey. Red, white, and blue stripes, which is located prominently adorned the station walls until they were removed as part of renovation works in 2005 which also saw the original Helvetica typeface, used in station name signs, replaced by Myriad.

History

On 16 December 1979, Modified Initial System was extended from Shek Kip Mei to Tsim Sha Tsui station. However, Yau Ma Tei station was opened on 22nd of that month as an infill station. When the station was first opened, only upper level platform was in use. Two weeks before Tsuen Wan line opened, on 26 April 1982, MTR Corporation split the Modified Initial System into Kwun Tong line and Tsuen Wan line, in order to let passengers to get use to transfer at Mong Kong station. In the same day, the lower level platform was put into use. Tsuen Wan line was fully operational on 17 May 1982.

Kwun Tong line was extended to Whampoa station on 23 October 2016.

Station layout

From the scissor crossing after Whampoa terminus to north of Yau Ma Tei, the Kwun Tong line drives on the right side of the tunnel, as opposed to almost everywhere else in the MTR, where the driving direction is usually on the left (except for the Tuen Ma line). The difference in driving directionality is due to the track layout between Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok stations.

The Kwun Tong line extension towards Whampoa station via Ho Man Tin opened on 23 October 2016. In preparation, the numbers of the Kwun Tong line platforms were swapped starting on 11 June 2016, and platform 4 became alighting-only (and platform 3 boarding-only) from 21 August 2016.[1] After the opening of the Kwun Tong line extension, Yau Ma Tei became an interchange station between the Kwun Tong line and the Tsuen Wan line, with each line using platforms on a different level.

G	Street level	Exits
C	Concourse	Customer service, MTRShops
		Vending machines, Automatic teller machines
P1 Platforms	Platform 1	→      Tsuen Wan line towards Tsuen Wan (Mong Kok) →
	Island platform, doors will open on the right
	Platform 2	←      Tsuen Wan line towards Central (Jordan)
P2 Platforms	Platform 4	←      Kwun Tong line towards Whampoa (Ho Man Tin)
	Island platform, doors will open on the left
	Platform 3	→      Kwun Tong line towards Tiu Keng Leng (Mong Kok) →

[2]

Entrances/exits

• A1: Pitt Street
• A2: Pitt Street, YMCA Kowloon Centre, Kwong Wah Hospital
• B1: Nathan Road
• B2: Portland Street
• C: Man Ming Lane (for Temple Street)
• D: Waterloo Road[3]

References

1. "Yau Ma Tei Station layout" (PDF). MTR Corporation. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
2. "Yau Ma Tei Station layout" (PDF). MTR Corporation. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
3. "Yau Ma Tei Station street map" (PDF). MTR Corporation. Retrieved 30 July 2014.