Ordinary Gweilo

Today West Rail is extended, through the new Austin station and the existing East Tsim Sha Tsui station, to terminate at Hung Hom, where it finally links up with East Rail (the original KCR line from Kowloon to the border with mainland China). 

This means that East Rail trains have stopped running to East Tsim Sha Tsui station, and once again terminate at Hung Hom, as they did from 1974 to 2004 (though the destination shown on trains then was always the slightly ambiguous 'Kowloon').  

Prior to 1974, the terminus for the KCR (Kowloon Cantoon Railway) was near the Star Ferry in Tsim Sha Tsui, and the original clock tower can still be seen close to the Cultural Centre.  

I still don't understand why the station is called East Tsim Sha Tsui (rather than the official English name for the area – Tsim Sha Tsui East).  In Chinese the area and station have the same name (尖東 – the second character being 'East'), so this is clearly part of the ongoing campaign to confuse non-Chinese people. 

There's also the puzzling romanization (which prompts visitors to call the area/station something like "Chim Shar Chewy") and the the official English pronunciation, which is similar(ish) but not the same as the Cantonese.

Eventually, both East Rail and West Rail will be extended beyond Hung Hom (East Rail will go south to Admiralty, and West Rail will join up with Ma On Shan Rail).  Until then, passengers changing trains at Hung Hom will sometimes find the next train on the adjacent platform, and sometimes not.  Also, there are shorter trains and longer intervals on West Rail, so passengers who were previously persuaded to use East TST station may well switch back to the Tsuen Wan Line.

Today there are vast numbers of MTR staff around at East TST and Hung Hom stations holding sign boards and explaining to passengers about the changes.  Presumably these are the same people who have been holding boards at Tseung Kwan O line stations for the last few weeks, to inform passengers about the new service to the inelegantly named LOHAS Park station.

Which reminds me that recently the MTR has taken to announcing that trains will "stop service at xxxx", which sounds as if there is a problem.  What they actually mean is that this is the destination.