Passengers pose for a group photo at the West Kowloon Station in south China's Hong Kong, April 1, 2023. (CHEN DUO / XINHUA)

A flexible riding scheme is tipped to be announced for high-speed rail trains between Hong Kong and Shenzhen’s Futian in mid-July, a lawmaker told China Daily on Monday. 

Ben Chan Han-pan, Chairman of the Legislative Council’s Panel on Transport, said the new arrangement is still being discussed by MTR Corp, the city’s operator of the high-speed link, and the governments of the two places. 

Starry Lee Wai-king, Hong Kong deputy to the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress, also revealed on Sunday that the government will announce this month a new way of running the high-speed rail in “metro style”

According to Chan, automatic machines will be installed in stations to enable passengers to change their tickets five minutes prior to their train’s departure. They can also use their mobile phone to reschedule tickets. Currently, passengers can only change their tickets 45 minutes prior to departure if the train is leaving Hong Kong and 30 minutes in advance if it is departing from the mainland. 

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The availability of standing-room-only tickets is also being discussed, Chan revealed, adding that the train journey between West Kowloon and Futian only takes around 15 minutes, so standing should present no difficulties for most passengers.  

Chan added that the frequency of trains on Shenzhen’s Futian to Hong Kong West Kowloon route is around every 8 minutes, making the introduction of standing-room-only tickets a convenience for residents of both places. 

However, he pointed out that there are still many issues to be resolved regarding the "metro-style" high-speed rail service. He hopes that the public will have realistic expectations and that the plan will be continuously optimized based on actual conditions after its implementation.

He said the practice of changing tickets shortly before a high-speed train departs is expected to be piloted first between West Kowloon Station and Shenzhen's Futian Station and will be reviewed before it can be expanded to other high-speed rail stations on the mainland.

Starry Lee Wai-king, Hong Kong deputy to the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress, also revealed on Sunday that the government will announce this month a new way of running the high-speed rail in “metro style”, allowing passengers to board any trains throughout the day as long as they have valid tickets for that day.

She hopes that standing-room-only tickets will be available for travel on the Hong Kong-Shenzhen route, without the need to purchase tickets within a specific timeframe. Lee also suggested that passengers riding high-speed trains should be able to switch trains to travel to other cities on the mainland using one ticket. 

Lee believes the new measure will ease pressure on the already-overcrowded East Rail Line, the city’s MTR line connecting to Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau, each being a checkpoint. 

READ MORE: Cross-boundary high-speed trains to begin trial run on Jan 3

Lam Sai-hung, secretary for transport and logistics of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said in March that MTR Corp has set up a task force with mainland railway authorities to discuss the new arrangement for short-haul services, which will give passengers the flexibility to choose any train traveling to or from a mainland destination on any particular day.

Earlier in June, Lam said the new arrangement will definitely be beneficial to deepening the integration of the Greater Bay Area. 

Currently, West Kowloon Station in Hong Kong has access to 68 mainland stations. According to a media report on Sunday citing Guangzhou Railway Group, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-Speed Rail will increase its daily cross-border trains to 91 pairs from July, with peak-hour train schedules reaching 127 pairs, an increase of nearly 11 percent and nearly 55 percent respectively from the 82 pairs in April.