CROSS-BORDER travelers who go to Hong Kong via Huanggang Checkpoint in Futian District can now take the Metro to the border after Huanggang Station opened on a trial basis Wednesday (June 20).

The station, the southernmost stop on Metro Line 4, is located right under the newly built Futian Checkpoint building, which is scheduled to open by the end of this month. The station expects to see 200,000 passengers daily.

Metro Line 1 passengers waiting to transfer to Line 4 at Hui Zhan Zhong Xin Station (Convention and Exhibition Center Station) need to wait a maximum of 10 minutes for the train at present, down from the previous 17.

Shenzhen became the fifth Chinese city to have an underground rail system after Line 1 was put into use in 2004.

Futian Checkpoint is one of three new border checkpoints this year that Shenzhen plans to open to provide more routes to Hong Kong and relieve the strain on passenger and cargo flows at existing checkpoints.

Futian Checkpoint, about 100 meters from Huanggang Checkpoint, is expected to deal with 250,000 cross-border travelers daily and will mainly function as a link between the Huanggang Metro Station in Shenzhen and the Lok Ma Chau spur line in Hong Kong.

Shenzhen Bay Checkpoint, to be located at the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Western Corridor, will become the largest land checkpoint in China, with a passenger and vehicle flow capacity 1.5 times that of Huanggang Checkpoint.

The Dachan Bay customs office will deal with cargo only. The annual throughput of the first phase of Dachan Bay port in Bao'an District is expected to reach 2 million TEUs (20-foot-equivalent units).

Editor: Wing