HK-mainland rail link proves popular

THE newly launched highspeed railway between the mainland and Hong Kong has already carried about 880,000 passengers since it was unveiled two weeks ago, its operator MTR Corporation said.

Since the commencement of its service on September 23, the Hong Kong section of Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link has seen about 880,000 passenger trips to and from Hong Kong West Kowloon Station and train service operations have been smooth, MTR said in a statement on Sunday.

From September 28 to October 7, which covers the week-long National Day holiday, the high-speed rail served a total of around 650,000 passengers between Hong Kong and different cities on the Chinese mainland.

The cumulative number of tickets sold, including those sold in the pre-sale period, has exceeded 1 million.

“The high-speed rail provides comfortable and convenient cross-boundary train services for passengers traveling between Hong Kong and mainland cities,” MTR CEO Lincoln Leong said, adding that “train services have been generally smooth since service commencement.”

The cross-boundary highspeed rail connects Hong Kong with 44 stations on the Chinese mainland without interchange, including six short-haul stations and 38 long-haul stations.

The National Day holiday came shortly after the opening of the high-speed rail and was a great challenge to the new railway, MTR Operations Director Adi Lau said.

China’s tourism industry has raked in over 599 billion yuan (US$87 billion) in revenue from domestic tourists during the National Day holiday starting on October 1, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced yesterday.

The figure marks a year-onyear increase of 9.04 percent, the ministry said, adding 726 million people visited parks, scenic spots, museums, concerts, and other recreational and cultural activities during the holiday, up 9.43 percent from a year earlier.