Hong Kong to connect more mainland cities

The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Link will add 16 mainland stations to its railway system, bringing the number of stations connected to Hong Kong to 110 from Jan. 26, according to an announcement of MTR Corporation on Monday.  

The newly added stations are in popular tourist cities and cultural hubs such as Nanjing, Wuxi, and Hefei, which are not only important centers for business and high-tech industries, but also rich in tourism resources.

This will further boost connectivity between mainland cities and Hong Kong.

In addition, the overnight sleeper train service between Hong Kong West Kowloon and Hongqiao Station in Shanghai, previously operating only from Fridays to Mondays, will run daily from Jan. 26. 

Starting from Jan. 26, an extra pair of trains that operate every day will be added on the Hong Kong West Kowloon–Hongqiao route, passing through new stations such as Hefei South, Nanjing South, and Wuxi East, offering convenience to both leisure and business travelers.

Combined with the newly added daytime services between Hongqiao and Hong Kong West Kowloon, there will be three pairs of trains a day running between Shanghai and Hong Kong.

In additional to the long distance trips, the short-trip services will also be upgraded. The trains between Hong Kong and and Guangzhou South Station will increase from 19 to 24 pairs. With the operation of Shanwei-Shantou High-Speed Railway, train services between Hong Kong West Kowloon and Shantou Station will be increased from from 4 to 5 pairs a day. 

Between Jan.1-12, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Link handled 1.01 million cross-boundary passenger trips, surpassing the one million mark. Among them, passenger flow between Shenzhen and Hong Kong accounted for 63% of the total.

During this period, 454,500 passengers traveled from Hong Kong to the mainland, while 562,600 passengers traveled from the mainland to Hong Kong, showing a balanced and active two-way flows. 

To make travel more convenient, railway authorities have expanded capacity by operating more than 200 high-speed trains a day to maintain efficient and smooth service.