• Mobile version
  • Follow us on Wechat
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • App

GZ-SZ-HK high-speed rail to open

[Photooeeee.com]

A single trip between the Hong Kong train terminal and Futian High-speed Railway Station in Shenzhen will take only 14 minutes when the much-anticipated high-speed rail (HSR) connecting Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou opens in 2018.

It has entered into the testing phase. The rail company in Hong Kong, Mass Transit Railway (MTR), invited over 4,000 local residents to visit four HSR trains at an Open Day event Oct. 8, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

The HSR will bring down the travel time between Guangzhou and Hong Kong from 100 minutes to only 50 minutes.

A one-way second-class ticket from Shenzhen to Hong Kong will cost approximately 45 yuan (US$6.80). In 2015, the train fare from Guangzhou South Station to Hong Kong was estimated to be around HK$210 (US$27).

Deng Weiyong, the general manager of the HSR section of MTR, disclosed that 90 percent of work on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-speed Rail project has been finished. Nine trains are undergoing testing with a speed of 200 kilometers per hour. The testing will be finished by the end of this year or before the end of the first quarter next year.

The cross-border HSR might be opened to the public in the third quarter of 2018, said Deng, and passes Futian High-speed Railway Station and Shenzhen North Railway Station in Longhua District.

It will take only 23 minutes from the Hong Kong terminal to Longhua. The trains are scheduled to depart every three minutes, but Hong Kong-Shenzhen North Railway Station will begin with trains at 15-minute intervals.

When the railway is opened, Hong Kong residents will be able to travel to 16 major cities on the mainland, including Changsha, Wuhan and Chengdu, via Shenzhen and Guangzhou, via the high-speed rail. It will only take approximately 8 hours to go from Hong Kong to Shanghai and 10 hours to Beijing by train.

Each HSR train will have 579 seats, with the second and eighth carriages each providing 68 first-class seats. Each seat will be equipped with power plugs and Wi-Fi connection will be available at all times on board.

Hong Kong media reports revealed that the HSR trains on the Chinese mainland can achieve a speed of between 300 to 350 kilometers per hour, but the speed will be brought down to 200 kilometers per hour while passing through tunnels. Since the Hong Kong section is in tunnels, the speed in Hong Kong will be capped at 200 kilometers per hour.

Special materials are used for the trains’ windows that create a special effect to reduce the speed of the train so that passengers can admire the view.

Related News