Journeys on the through train are now memories

The line from Hong Kong to Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing was for 111 years a conduit for business, family get-togethers and tourism and instrumental in development of the eastern New Territories and the city of Shenzhen. Faster and more convenient means of travel have eroded its advantages and it is now apparently being consigned to history

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Through train services from Hong Kong have been running for more than a century. Photo: May Tse

SCMP Editorial

Editorials represent the views of the South China Morning Post on the issues of the day.

Published: 10:30pm, 30 Apr 2022

The first journey to a destination, how we got there, the sights, sounds and smells – they are all important parts of collective memory. Nostalgic thoughts have come flooding back for many people in Hong Kong and on the mainland China side of the border with reports that the through train to Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing has ceased operation. With a history spanning 111 years, the line was long a conduit for business, family get-togethers and tourism and instrumental in development of the eastern New Territories and neighbouring city of Shenzhen. Faster and more convenient means of travel have eroded its advantages and it is now apparently being consigned to history.

Cross-border rail services have been suspended since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, so those wishing to go for one last ride have likely missed the opportunity. In its place there is now the high-speed rail from Kowloon that cuts time to Guangzhou and the rest of the nation, buses and planes. Passenger numbers have plunged, in 2019 being down 48.2 per cent to 1.9 million. Better infrastructure coupled with a desire for convenience and time-saving travel pointed to the end of the line.

Conceived as a means of projecting British colonial power, the line that eventually ran from Tsim Sha Tsui to Guangzhou, then known as Canton, was hailed on its completion as an engineering feat. But there were long periods of interrupted service, notably during the Japanese war from 1937 to 1945 and from when the Communist Party took power in China from 1945 until an agreement to reopen the track from Lo Wu to Guangzhou was struck in 1979. During the latter period, a 275-metre walk was required to change trains.

For Hong Kong, the stretch from Hung Hom to the border was the beginning of the city’s commuter passenger network, enabling people to travel from rural districts and the new towns of the New Territories to urban areas. The track remains as part of the Mass Transit Railway’s East Line, but the trains will no longer run. There are reminders such as the red brick clock tower from the original terminus on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront and the Hung Hom station building itself, but of those trips to see relatives, attend the Canton Fair or simply to be a tourist, there can now only be memories.