Passengers enter Hong Kong's West Kowloon Station as cross-boundary high-speed rail services linking the HKSAR and the Chinese mainland resumed on Jan 15, 2023. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)
A task force has been set up to study the feasibility of introducing a "metro-style", high-speed rail service between Hong Kong and the mainland, which will give passengers the flexibility to choose any train travelling to or from a mainland destination on any particular day, Hong Kong’s transportation chief said on Wednesday.
The authorities are also discussing other arrangements, such as launching monthly passes and standee tickets, to enhance the flexibility of service on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, said Lam Sai-hung, secretary for transport and logistics in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
During a Q&A session at the Legislative Council, Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung said that MTR Corp Ltd has set up a task force with mainland railway authorities to discuss the "metroization" of short-haul services
During a Q&A session at the Legislative Council, Lam said that MTR Corp Ltd, which operates the Hong Kong section of the high-speed rail link, has set up a task force with mainland railway authorities to discuss the "metroization" of short-haul services. He was responding to questions raised by lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun on the potential optimization of high-speed railway services.
Lam also said MTR will explore introducing different ticket types, such as monthly passes, to attract those who frequently use the bullet train to travel between Hong Kong and the mainland.
At the LegCo meeting, Tien also asked whether standee tickets for short-haul high-speed trains would be made available, as is common practice in mainland cities such as Shanghai, Wuxi and Suzhou.
Lam said the safety of railway operations and passengers was always the top priority, and the introduction of standee tickets would depend on the types and designs of trains and the relevant regulations on railway operations in the mainland and Hong Kong. MTR will continue to work with its mainland counterparts to enhance the service, Lam said.
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Lam also noted that MTR has adopted many improvements to railway operations since the resumption of high-speed train services in mid-January, including the introduction of e-tickets which enable passengers to pass through the gates faster.
Having been suspended for three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hong Kong section of the rail link has progressively resumed services since Jan 15, 2023.
As compared with the services before the pandemic, three new destinations have been introduced since Jan 15 and five new destinations will be introduced from April 1 onwards. The Hong Kong West Kowloon Station will then be directly connected to 66 destinations, including 10 short-haul destinations.
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With effect from April 1, the daily frequency of the high-speed trains between Hong Kong and the mainland will increase from the current 102 trips to 164 trips per day, marking a full return to pre-pandemic levels, according to Lam.