Enhanced cross-border train services during holidays

To accommodate the expected influx of travelers during the Easter and Ching Ming holidays, MTR Corp has announced the provision of additional high-speed train services between Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Station and Shenzhen’s Futian Station.

The service will be effective from Thursday through April 6, although details of the additional trains have not yet been released.

The city’s railway operator also said that starting from April 6, it will add four train services between Hong Kong and Shenzhen every Saturday. This move will increase the total number of Saturday rides between the two cities to 192.

The enhanced services will include two trains running between West Kowloon Station and Futian Station, as well as two trains operating between West Kowloon Station and Shenzhen North Station, with Futian Station as a stop.

The decision to augment train services on Saturdays comes in response to the growing demand for cross-border travel during weekends — a trend that has emerged since the city resumed normal travel with the Chinese mainland in 2023.

The Same-day Flexi-trip Arrangement, which allows Hong Kong-Shenzhen commuters to reschedule their booked travel, will apply to all additional train rides. Passengers can change their ticket up to three times, no later than one hour after the ticket’s original departure times.

The flexi-trip arrangement was implemented for Hong Kong-Futian travels in August and extended on March 18 to include trips to and from Shenzhen North Station.

The Hong Kong Immigration Department estimates that around 11 million people will cross the border with the mainland during the upcoming holiday period.

The peak travel times are expected to be from Friday to Monday, when approximately 601,000 outbound and 589,000 inbound travelers are expected to pass through the border checkpoints.

Metro services in Hong Kong will also be enhanced during the peak hours.

Additionally, bus operators such as Kowloon Motor Bus and Citybus have planned to increase their services along the routes linking the major land crossings, including the Shenzhen Bay and Heung Yuen Wai checkpoints.