The Hong Kong section of the high-speed rail has not yet resumed full operation. The government stated today (3rd) that the Hong Kong section of the high-speed rail will resume long-distance train services in phases starting next Saturday (11th). The service to and from Chaoshan will be resumed first, and all long-distance trains will be fully resumed from the 1st of next month. Councilor Zhang Xinyu believes that there is nothing wrong with opening to traffic in two phases, but if the short-distance service is resumed next Saturday, the ticket sales arrangement should be announced in the near future.
The government stated that in the first phase, the service between Hong Kong West Kowloon Station and Chaoshan, Shantou and Zhaoqing East will be resumed first. Citizens can take long-distance buses on the relevant lines to reach 11 intermediate stations, including Chaoyang, Foshan West, Yumen, Huidong, Huizhou South, Kuitan, Lufeng, Puning, Sanshuinan, Shanwei and Shenzhen Pingshan. From the 1st of next month, the long-distance service of the Hong Kong section of the high-speed rail will be fully restored, connecting long-distance stations outside Hong Kong and Guangdong Province.
The authority mentioned that it will fine-tune and optimize the service of existing short-distance stations. From next Saturday (11th), the first daily departure from West Kowloon Station to Guangzhou East Railway Station will stop at Futian and Dongguan. The journey time is expected to be shortened by more than 10 minutes; The departure time of the train from South Station to West Kowloon Station will be advanced at 7:05 am, and the arrival time will be advanced accordingly to 8:14 am, making it more convenient for passengers traveling between the two places.
Member Zhang Xinyu said that the demand for high-speed rail has increased sharply recently. According to the figures of the Immigration Department, the number of people entering and exiting the West Kowloon High-speed Rail Station on weekdays has reached more than 30,000 per day, and it has risen to about 40,000 on weekends, but currently only 38.5 pairs The train can carry about 40,000 passengers. Zhang suggested that short-distance trains should be increased, because before the epidemic, there were more than 100 pairs of trains between Shenzhen and Guangzhou every day. If the high-speed rail can share about 1/10 of the 200,000 to 300,000 passengers at the Luohu and Lok Ma Chau ports, it will also be beneficial to the high-speed rail. Passenger traffic helps a lot. Zhang also said that he has taken the high-speed rail to the mainland many times, and the process of buying tickets was smooth, all he needed was to show his home return certificate. Earlier, there was confusion in ticket sales in the early days of the high-speed rail resumption. Zhang believed that it was related to the quota system, and the quota has now been cancelled. system, so ticket sales have become smooth.
