More trains for Lunar New Year holiday on high-speed Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, says MTR Corporation
- Nearly 200 trains will run to and from West Kowloon station every day from January 31 to February 11
- MTR Corp operations director says government subsidies not needed for rail link despite disappointing passenger numbers in its first three months
Hong Kong’s high-speed cross-border rail link will boost train services during the Lunar New Year holiday to cope with the influx of mainland Chinese tourists as the railway continues to battle lacklustre passenger numbers.
From January 31 to February 11, there will be 190 trains every day to and from Hong Kong West Kowloon station – 164 for short-haul trips and 26 for long-haul – compared with 166 trains during regular service.
The move came as the MTR Corporation’s operations director Adi Lau Tin-shing said on Thursday that between September 23, when the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link opened, and the end of last year, about 5.2 million travellers used the much hyped line. Average daily passenger numbers were 52,000, about 35 per cent below the government’s expected figure of 80,100.
The railway, which was more than a decade in the making and cost the city HK$84.4 billion (US$10.8 billion), looked set to miss its year’s profit target of HK$199 million before tax and interest and its estimated revenue of HK$671 million.
But Lau insisted the express rail link was faring well in terms of its patronage, saying that at this stage there was no need for the government to step in.