End of the line for intercity through trains
Hong Kong’s historic crossborder intercity through-train services with Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai will be axed, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Following dwindling demand and fierce competition from other modes of transport, especially the 26km section of the GuangzhouShenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed railway, operations will end after more than 110 years.
In a reply to Post inquiries, the MTR Corporation issued a statement late on Thursday that did not confirm or deny reports that service termination was on the cards. But it stressed it had not laid off or cut any manpower from through-train services, saying staff were transferred to other posts.
Through trains were suspended at the onset of the Covid19 pandemic in January 2020 along with the closure of all but three border checkpoints.
“Due to the availability of more positions on local rail lines, we want to help those who used to work with intercity train services to look for other opportunities,” the MTR Corp said.
The intercity service was introduced in 1911 but disrupted during the 1937-45 Sino-Japanese war. After the war ended, normal
services resumed only to be disrupted again and then suspended when the Communists assumed power on the mainland in 1949, with passengers required to change trains at the border and walk the 275 metres between the Lo Wu and Shum Chun (now Shenzhen) terminals.
Operations were restored in 1979 after a historic meeting between then-governor Murray MacLehose and paramount leader Deng Xiaoping in Beijing. It had since served as a land gateway for cross-border travellers especially businessmen between Hong Kong and Guangzhou and played a key role in Shenzhen’s opening since the 1980s.
A trip between the Hung Hom terminus and Guangzhou East station through Changping city used to take about two hours. Services were later extended to Beijing and Shanghai through connecting with the mainland’s extensive rail networks.
Since the merger of the MTR Corp and Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) in 2007, through trains were jointly run by the MTR Corp and the China State Railway Group.
In recent years, the service faced strong competition from cross-border boundary buses, high-speed railways and taxis. The high-speed train, for example, took 48 to 71 minutes between Hong Kong and Guangzhou South station when it started operating in September 2018. But these operations have also been suspended during the pandemic.
Lawmaker and former KCRC chairman Michael Tien Puk-sun said it would make sense to terminate through-train services before the border reopened.
“I am not sure about the timing of the termination, but it will be logical if it takes place before the border is reopened to avoid the hassles of mobilising manpower back and forth,” he said.
He pointed out that an extension of high-speed rail services to Guangzhou East railway station, which is close to the Guangdong provincial capital’s shopping and financial centre, would replace the niche of the through trains.
He said through-train capacity at Hung Hom should be redesignated for the East Rail Line that would be extended across Victoria Harbour through the Sha Tin to Central rail link. The mega rail link
– Hong Kong’s most expensive project of its kind at HK$90.7 billion – was due to begin operating on May 15, pending the government’s approval, Tien said.
Hong Kong Federation of Railway Trade Unions chairman Lam Wai-keung estimated fewer than 100 staff were employed on through-train services. Repair and maintenance of the MTR Corp’s only train set for the cross-border service, a double-deck 184-seater, ceased several months ago, Lam said. “I am aware that repair and maintenance of that train was stopped and we didn’t order any spares,” he said.
In 2019, intercity through trains recorded a patronage of 1.9 million, down 48.2 per cent from a year, earlier while that for highspeed trains jumped 219.2 per cent to 16.9 million. Revenue shrank 18.2 per cent to HK$175 million while that of high-speed rail services surged 249.7 per cent to HK$2.09 billion.