Is 1½-hour train trip to Guangzhou ‘high-speed’? Hong Kong lawmakers question new line’s slow service, empty seats
- Trip to newly added stop Guangzhou East takes 1½ hours on trains departing from West Kowloon terminus, while old service from Hung Hom took 2 hours
- Lengthy commute does not fit ‘definition of high-speed rail,’ lawmaker and former railway boss Michael Tien says
A Hong Kong lawmaker has said a new train line connecting Hong Kong and Guangzhou East does not fit the “definition of high-speed rail” as the service is hamstrung by old tracks and intermediate stops, while another notes mismatched ticket allocation and empty seats.
Sunday’s 8am departure for Guangzhou East – a newly added but historically popular stop just a stone’s throw from the city’s financial and commercial centre – marked the initial stage in reconnecting Hong Kong to the mainland’s sprawling rail network.
Among the first batch of passengers was Bosco Xia, a 25-year-old research assistant who was travelling to see his former schoolmates at Guangzhou. “I have not been back [to mainland China] for more than 500 days. It feels good to be able to go home,” he said.
The Jiangsu native said he chose Guangzhou East instead of Guangzhou South because it was much closer to the shopping districts, and he wanted to give the inaugural service a try.
Railway enthusiast Anthony Sze, an 18-year-old student, was also on the train attempting to record the entirety of the trip on his DSLR camera, but to no avail as it overheated filming the lengthy journey.
