A total of 16 new stations, including ones in Nanjing in Jiangsu province, Hefei in Anhui, and other major Chinese mainland cities, were made directly accessible from Hong Kong on Monday, bringing the number of destinations that can be directly reached from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to 110.
The expanded high-speed railway network, which so far covers 19 provinces and municipalities across the country, demonstrates the close ties between Hong Kong and the mainland, said Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan at a ceremony on Monday marking the milestone.
She said that Hong Kong has the distinctive advantages of enjoying the strong support of the motherland while being closely connected to the world; linking West Kowloon Station to the mainland’s extensive high-speed rail network allows Hong Kong residents to travel across the vast landscapes of the mainland, further reinforcing the city’s role as a superconnector.
Other newly added long-haul destinations include Miluodong in Hunan province, Quanzhounan in Fujian, and Jiangsu’s Wuxidong station.
The new railway timetable also allows Hong Kong travelers to visit more stations in Guangdong province, including those in Huizhou, Shanwei, Jieyang and Qingyuan, without transfers.
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At the same event, MTR Corp CEO Jeny Yeung Mei-chun said that the Hong Kong section of the high‑speed rail has provided over 100 million passenger trips since its inception in 2018. Last year, the railway handled more than 30 million trips, a 17 percent year-on-year increase, she added.
Yeung said that high‑speed rail travel has become a popular trend, adding that she hopes to continue working with the tourism sector to promote distinctive high‑speed rail travel experiences. This, she said, would attract more mainland visitors to travel to Hong Kong by rail and experience the city’s unique East‑meets‑West cultural fusion.
The MTR Corp is also launching a series of limited-time offers to passengers starting on Tuesday to celebrate the service upgrade. For instance, passengers can enjoy buy-one-get-one-free deals and a HK$20 ($2.56) discount for designated rail route tickets.
READ MORE: HK high-speed rail to expand mainland links with 16 new destinations
To continue the high-speed railway’s success, Chan revealed that the Hong Kong authorities will soon announce updated railway standards that integrate mainland expertise with Hong Kong’s established benchmarks, with the aims of speeding up construction, enhancing efficiency, and reducing costs, and serving as a reference for future railway projects in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, nationwide, and even internationally.
Contact the writer at stacyshi@chinadailyhk.com
