Then & Now | New Hong Kong-Guangzhou high-speed rail link takes longer than pre-1950s train services

At long last, Hong Kong’s much-vaunted “high-speed” railway has opened. And what has Hong Kong got to show for more than a decade of political controversy, bitterly divisive public debate and eye-watering expense? A landmark infrastructure project whose uninspiring name – Vibrant Express – accurately reflects the unimaginative banality of the civil servants who foisted their tedious brainwave on everyone else.

Names such as the Golden Arrow, Flying Scotsman and Coromandel Express evoke a more classic sense of travel, a mode of transport that was somehow more than simply a means of getting from A to B. Vibrant Express lacks that romantic aura, or exciting sense of promise.

Cross-Rail – the initial suggestion – was quietly dropped several years ago; this name implied that the new line would cross borders, either physical or psychological. As every thinking person in Hong Kong now realises, recent years have seen the distinc­tions between Hong Kong and the rest of China steadily shrivel.

Earlier cross-bound­ary formalities – especially in terms of law enforcement – are now virtually meaning­less. Once upon a time, the Basic Law stated that mainland officials were to have no jurisdiction in Hong Kong. This inconvenient clause was eventually “re-interpreted” by a higher authority to mean something substantially different to what the general public – in their innocence and ignorance – had blithely thought the stated words actually meant. So far, so Orwellian; and merely another symptom of where Hong Kong stands today.

After extensive metro connections from Guangzhou South, a passenger using the Vibrant Express will take longer to reach central Guangzhou than one using the existing through-train service from Hung Hom. Greater connec­tivity with the whole mainland was always the underlying intention; increased speed between the two cities was only ever of secondary importance.