Peak Tram

Challenge

Since 1888, visitors to Hong Kong have delighted in riding a funicular up Victoria Peak, but in all that time, the passenger experience had barely budged.

Though it could accommodate four million passengers annually, wait times often exceeded two hours. With those iconic views tantalizingly out of reach, visitors, to say nothing of locals who relied on the tram every day, often grew exasperated.

The Peak Tramways Company committed to a full-scale overhaul of the tram experience in 2018, including new cars and haulage that would drastically cut wait times and increase capacity. Beyond these operational improvements, the company also wanted guests to experience the natural beauty of Victoria Peak and historical value of the tram long before the nearly 400-meter climb to the summit.

Solution

Collaborating with Sarner International, Journey conceived of a multidimensional experience that would recast the queue from a chore to a joy.

Through immersive media, real-time visualization, projection mapping, animation, and storytelling, the experience introduces visitors to the landscapes, history, and engineering heritage of the Peak Tram before they even board.

A Multidimensional Canvas

Multidimensional experiences unfold across physical, chronological, technological, and human realms. You’d be hard pressed to find a better canvas for applying the principles of MDX than the Peak Tram.

To evolve this Hong Kong treasure without diluting its historical value, Journey brought a touch of the “unreal” to the project.

Bringing Victoria Peak to Life

Just before boarding, visitors pass through a full-immersion, wraparound video installation, with wall- and ceiling-length LED screens mirroring the beauty of Victoria Peak.

Key to realizing our design ambition was our adoption of Unreal Engine, a 3D platform traditionally used by video game developers.

Applying the chronological dimension of MDX, we depicted woodlands, flora, and fauna as they’d appear at different seasons and times of day, from dawn to dusk. This physical and chronological immersion in a place simply wouldn’t have been possible without the compute and rendering power of Unreal.

A Journey Through Time

In the waiting area between the main entrance and ticketing counters, a large AV installation employs mixed-media animation and archival footage to relay key moments in Peak Tram history.

A digital timeline highlights social history, milestones, and technological development from 1888 to the present.

A Journey Through Time

A historical haulage room equipment display addresses MDX’s chronological dimension by transforming a technical space into a vivid storytelling environment. Rather than presenting machinery as static artifacts, the installation reveals how the tram’s engineering systems have evolved over more than a century of operation. Through carefully choreographed projection mapping, dynamic lighting, and interpretive media, visitors can see the equipment come alive as each chapter of the tram’s history unfolds around them.

The experience highlights the four major technological eras the Peak Tram has witnessed—steam, electric, microprocessor, and the present day—illustrating how advances in engineering, safety, and operational efficiency have shaped the journey up Victoria Peak. By connecting historic machinery with contemporary digital storytelling, the display helps guests appreciate both the ingenuity of the past and the innovation that continues to drive the Peak Tram forward.

Reaching the Summit

As they disembark at the Upper Terminus, guests encounter a film highlighting the Peak’s various attractions, as well as the extensive engineering and aesthetic reinventions this quintessential feature of Hong Kong life has received over its nearly 140-year history.

Whether just starting their visit or walking with nothing above them but sky, visitors now get more than a voyage with a view. They get an experience that engages them across every dimension of their lived experience.