Timeline of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link

Overview

The Hong Kong Section of Guangzhou-Shenzhan-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) Project is first proposed in Railway Development Strategy 2000 (RDS-2000) , which provided a framework for expansion of railway network in Hong Kong. At that time, the government forecasted rail becoming the backbone of our passenger transport system, so a territory-wide railway development blueprint is set out for expanding the rail network, linking the urban area with the boundary.

The Legislative Council passed the motion of Express Rail Link in October 2009. Later in January 2010, the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council further approved the funding application for the construction of the XRL . It was then that the construction commenced in late January 2010, with target completion in the third quarter of 2018.

Timeline of the Hong Kong Section of Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link

Source: Database; Mass Transit Railway (MTR); http://www.expressraillink.hk/en/database/xrl-in-hk.html#timetable

Forming part of the national high-speed rail network, the 142 km long Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) will link Hong Kong to the Shibi Station at Guangzhou through the Futain and the Longhua Station at Shenzhen . The Hong Kong Section of the XRL is about 26 km long . It is an underground rail line that will run along a dedicated rail corridor from a new terminus at West Kowloon to the boundary near Lok Ma Chau for connection with the Mainland Section of the XRL. With the XRL, the journey time between Hong Kong and Guangzhou will be reduced from about 100 minutes as at present to about 50 minutes .

As a result, Hong Kong can be connected directly with major Mainland cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, via the connected 16,000 km long national high-speed rail network . Passengers using the XRL can also reach other major cities in the Pearl River Delta via the Intercity Rapid Rail.

The Pros and Cons of Constructing the Hong Kong Section of Express Rail Link (XRL)

‘High Speed Rail is good for our health, it is good for our climate, and it is good for our economy,’ stated Gina McCarthy, EPA Administrator . From the International Union of Railways (UIC), high-speed rail is the most energy efficient form of transportation. For every unit of energy consumed, high-speed rail can carry about 170 passengers, compared to that of 54.1 passengers for bus and 20 passengers for plane .

Incredible Energy Efficiency of High-speed Trains (Source: International Union of Railways (UIC); www.uic.org)

From the first developed high-speed rail in China, China Rail High-speed (CRH), in 1998, the country has undergone an high-speed rail building