A high-speed railway between Beijing and Tianjin boosted Tianjin's economic growth at the fastest rate of any mainland city this year, according to a national railway official - who adds that Hong Kong could reap similar rewards if it has the 'attitude and determination' to build its own high-speed link to Shenzhen and Guangzhou. The line, the official says, was responsible for a third of Tianjin's 16.8 per cent growth in gross domestic product. Hong Kong officials have also predicted an economic boost from the link to the mainland high-speed network, of which the Tianjin line is part, after the Guangzhou line opens in 2015. But as Hong Kong is much more developed than Tianjin, expecting similar rates of growth is not realistic. The Ministry of Railways said the Tianjin link, which cut the 120 kilometre journey to Beijing from two hours to 25 minutes, had increased traffic, tourism and investment for both cities, especially Tianjin. Beijing's GDP growth is projected to reach 10 per cent this year, a breakthrough from the single-digit growth of recent years. Ministry of Railways spokesman Wang Yongping said 20 million passengers rode on the Beijing-Tianjin link - currently the fastest train on the mainland with a top speed of 350km/h - in its first year of operation. Tianjin saw visitor numbers grow 20 per cent this year, with a 15 per cent increase in service-sector revenues over the first three quarters. 'We have entered the era of high-speed rail,' Wang said. 'Whether the same would happen to Hong Kong depends on its people's attitude and determination.' Hong Kong's HK$65.2 billion project has been opposed by academics and politicians, as well as villagers who would have to move to make way for the city's first high-speed link. But the plan's funding is expected to pass the Legislative Council's final scrutiny on Friday. Hung Wing-tat, a transport researcher at Polytechnic University, said it would be difficult to quantify the link's economic benefit - and even more difficult to predict which cities would reap the greater benefit from better access. The Transport and Housing Bureau expects a daily average of 99,000 passengers - 70 per cent of them local - to take the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong link in 2016. Minister Eva Cheng said the actual patronage should be higher than 99,000, as that projection took into account only the natural growth of existing cross-border patronage, not newly generated clients - people who would not have travelled without the high-speed rail. After linking to the mainland's high-speed network in 2015, it will take 14 minutes from West Kowloon to Futian in Shenzhen, 48 minutes to Shibi in Guangzhou, five hours to Wuhan and 10 hours to Beijing. The mainland's high-speed network will be completed by 2013. A South China Morning Post reporter who took a ride on the Beijing-Tianjin link on Thursday found the train steady, quiet and the seats spacious. A one-way trip cost 59 yuan (HK$67) and the train was full. The model to be used on Hong Kong's high-speed line will be even faster and more modern.
