If the customary Ching Ming festival crush at the Lowu border crossing was the only reason to call for 24-hour opening of the checkpoint, it would be justification enough.
Every year, as the throng at peak holiday periods gets larger, the potential for a serious accident increases. Already, immigration officials are predicting figures of 1,020,000 going through the turnstiles during the Easter break. Although safety has to take priority over every other consideration, KCRC plans to cope with this weekend's crowds by halving the numbers allowed on station platforms will only prolong the misery.
If the railway can be kept open over Christmas, New Year and the Lunar New Year without causing massive maintenance problems, it should be possible to extend that arrangement for all the other peak periods.
But it takes a co-operative effort from authorities on both sides of the border, as well as the rail service, to bring some sort of order to the arrangement.
Over 220,000 went through Lowu on Sunday, and with all 64 departure counters working flat out to process travellers crossing for Ching Ming, the procedure is becoming one of the ordeals of the holiday season. However, there are other more compelling reasons to extend the opening hours of all the cross-border checkpoints between Hong Kong and the mainland throughout the year, especially when there are so many other plans to increase co-operation, and as the links between the two become closer. It makes no sense to press ahead with grandiose schemes for exchanges in technology and trade, if this is to be restricted to a 17-hour day.
Cross-border traffic has been increasing at an annual rate of nine per cent for the past five years, and that will now accelerate. The flow at Lok Ma Chau crossing had reached saturation point of at least 15,000 vehicles a day before it was switched to a 24-hour operation. That has helped to ease congestion, but with an acknowledged need to provide more crossings, it would make sense to extend round-the-clock opening to the checkpoints at Shataukok and Man Kam To.
