Lo Wu station

Lo Wu 羅湖
MTR rapid transit station
Platform 2
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	羅湖
Simplified Chinese	罗湖
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Luóhú Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Lòh Wùh Jyutping lo4 wu4
General information
Location	Lo Wu Station Road, Lo Wu North District, Hong Kong
Coordinates	22°31′42″N 114°06′48″E / 22.5283°N 114.1134°E / 22.5283; 114.1134Coordinates: 22°31′42″N 114°06′48″E / 22.5283°N 114.1134°E / 22.5283; 114.1134
Owned by	Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation
Operated by	MTR Corporation
Line(s)	East Rail Line
Platforms	4 (Spanish solution: 2 side platforms and island platform)
Tracks	2
Connections	Main line Shenzhen Railway Station, Shenzhen Metro      Line 1 Luohu Station
Construction
Structure type	At-grade
Platform levels	1
Disabled access	Yes
History
Opened	14 October 1949 (1949-10-14)
Electrified	1983
Traffic
Passengers (2012)	240,000 daily entries and exits
Services
Preceding station   MTR   Following station Sheung Shui towards Hung Hom East Rail Line Terminus Across Hong Kong boundary Preceding station   Shenzhen Metro   Following station Guomao toward Airport East Line 1 Transfer at: Luohu Terminus
Location
Lo Wu Location within the MTR system

Lo Wu (simplified Chinese: 罗湖; traditional Chinese: 羅湖) is the northern terminus of the East Rail Line (Kowloon-Canton Railway) of Hong Kong, located in Lo Wu within the Closed Area on Hong Kong's northern frontier. The station serves as a primary checkpoint for rail passengers between Hong Kong and mainland China and vice versa, rather than serving a specific residential/commercial area like the other stations do. It is also the northernmost railway station in Hong Kong.

When the Kowloon-Canton Railway first went into service, trains did not stop at Lo Wu, as there was no border patrol at the time. However, shortly after the People's Republic of China was created in October 1949, the KCR announced that trains would terminate at Lo Wu, and that passengers would be able to cross the border on foot.

Refurbishment work of the station started in 2002 and new facilities such as a group waiting area and new ticket gates were introduced. Since 28 December 2004, this station also serves as the interchange station for the Shenzhen Metro Luohu station, which shares the same Chinese name.

Platform 4 was built in 2004 to accommodate increasing patronage. Before the completion of refurbishment works, trains would stop at the island platform for simultaneous alighting and boarding. The platform was always crowded during the time. The building of platform 4 and converting platform 1 (which was rarely used before the refurbishment) for boarding improved passenger flow. Ever since, trains have been emptied with doors opened towards platforms 2 and 3 for passengers getting off; afterwards, the doors are opened to platforms 1 and 4 for boarding passengers.

This particular system of loading/unloading is popular in Europe and many US subway systems and named the Spanish solution.

This station is unique to rail systems of any kind in that automatic doors limit the number of people that are allowed on the platform. Two large glass sliding doors close after about a minute elapses from the time the train pulls in for boarding. These doors are located after the area for validating at the ticket barriers, but before the platforms area. Even with this system in place, passengers may have to wait for the next train to arrive before they can travel back towards Hung Hom, as alternate trains pull into each paired platform. This layout makes use of the Spanish solution.