The Mid-autumn Festival long weekend is coming. The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) starts operating today, a day before the Mid-autumn Festival.
Do you have any plan for going to Hong Kong? From today, the high speed rail will offer you a faster way to visit Hong Kong.
Here is all you need to know about the XRL.
TIMETABLE
At opening, a total of 114 services will run daily between Hong Kong and Guangzhou. The short-routes include 30 trains between West Kowloon and Guangzhou South, and a further 25 linking Hong Kong to both Shenzhen North and Futian stations. There will also be 12 weekend-only services in operation. A train will be available every 15 to 30 minutes.
Moreover, West Kowloon station will connect to 14 cities in mainland China with 13 services every day, the destinations being: Beijing, Shanghai, Kunming, Guilin, Guiyang, Shijiazhuang, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Changsha, Hangzhou, Nanchang, Fuzhou, Xiamen and Shantou.
The XRL runs from Hong Kong West Kowloon Station north to 44 major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and more. Journey time will be reduced to just 14-minutes to Shenzhen Futian Station and a 47-minutes to Guangzhou South Station.
PURCHASE TICKET
Before boarding, passengers must collect paper tickets. Tickets purchased on the Chinese mainland must be collected in the mainland. The same is true of Hong Kong.
1.Ways to purchase ticket in Mainland China: 12306.com, telephone booking (86+ Tel code of the departure city + 95105105), tickets center of train stations, ticket agencies (including the agencies in Hong Kong), or self-service ticket purchase machines.
2.Ways to purchase ticket in Hong Kong: The telephone hotline for tickets is +852 2120 0888, and for inquiries +852 2106 3888. Tickets can also be bought online via the MTR’s website (http://www.mtr.com.hk/en/customer/main/index.html), tickets center of Hong Kong West Kowloon Station. Payments by cash, credit card and Octopus card are accepted, including online methods such as WeChat Pay, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.
Note: Service charges for ticket purchases to destinations beyond the 44 destinations would be priced between HK$10 to HK$30.
3.Rescheduling and canceling rules
According to regulations, passengers only have one chance to reschedule their tickets within the booking period. Moreover, after rescheduling tickets are non-refundable. Passengers who travel earlier or later than the time printed on the ticket will be treated as if travelling without tickets.
Reschedule your ticket before assigned date or 30 minutes in mainland/60 minutes in Hong Kong before departure time
Note: Reschedule your ticket before assigned date or 30 minutes in mainland/60 minutes in Hong Kong before departure time
MISS YOUR STATION
Please note that passengers who over travel, and arrive at Hong Kong West Kowloon station will be face a surcharge for travelling without the relevant ticket.
If passenger miss the station, they can report it to the station staff within 10 minutes and a free drive to the right station will be provided. After 10 minutes, 1,500 HK dollars will be charged for tickets from all stations on the XRL to Hong Kong West Kowloon station, and 3,000 HK dollars will be charged for tickets from other destinations on the mainland to Hong Kong West Kowloon station. If the departure station is unclear, the passenger will be charged the maximum fare of 3,000 HK dollars.
CROSS BORDER
To travel from West Kowloon Station to the mainland, passengers who enter the station at the ticket office on floor B1 can head down to B3 for the border crossing out of Hong Kong, before going down again to B4 to board the train. For mainland travelers to Hong Kong, they need to go through Mainland exit and Hong Kong entry procedures on B2 before exiting the station.
More than 10 existing bus routes will stop at the newly opened West Kowloon Station Bus Terminus, with three new routes, going to other parts of the city.
LUGGAGE
The luggage arrangements for the High Speed Rail (Hong Kong Section) have to be consistent with those applicable to the high speed rail network in the Mainland. While the maximum total dimensions per piece should not exceed 130 cm, each adult passenger should not carry more than 20 kg of luggage and each child passenger should not carry more than 10 kg of luggage. There are no constraints on the number of pieces of luggage. The overweight luggage will be charge for 20 yuan per kg.
