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| No.1 January, 2010 |
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High speed rail network |
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The Legislative Council's Finance Committee recently endorsed the funding for the local section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL), which will allow Hong Kong to tap into China’s 16,000 kilometre national high speed rail network.
Secretary for Transport & Housing Eva Cheng said the XRL was in Hong Kong’s best interests. "It is not only a transport project, but also an important community investment," she said.
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The XRL will run over 140 kilometres of track from its terminus in West Kowloon to Shibi, Guangzhou. Through-train services to major Mainland cities will travel at an average of 300kph will enable travellers from Hong Kong to reach Xiamen in four hours, Wuhan in five hours, Shanghai in eight hours and Beijing in 10 hours.
The XRL will play a major role in fostering closer ties between Hong Kong and China, injecting momentum and creating new opportunities for the future development of Hong Kong in the medium and long term.
The construction of the Hong Kong section is expected to create 11,000 job opportunities at its peak. When completed, the high-speed rail system, together with related business establishments, is expected to employ 10,000 people.
According to the current planning, in the early years of operation of the XRL, there will be 90 and 24 daily train pairs for shuttle services to the Shenzhen and Guangzhou areas respectively. These translate into an average 15 minute headway to Shenzhen and 30 minute headway to Guangzhou for most hours. Subject to the development of the national railway schedules, there will be 24 daily train pairs to 15 Mainland cities, which will gradually increase to 33 daily pairs to 16 cities.
The Hong Kong terminus of the XRL at West Kowloon is close to most major business, commercial, retail, hotel and residential districts in Hong Kong. It is well served by existing and planned railways and road networks. The travelling distance between the terminus and most commercial districts throughout Hong Kong is within 15 minutes, and that between the terminus and most residential districts is within 30 minutes. The terminus also creates excellent synergy with the future West Kowloon Cultural District.
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