Hong Kong's first high-speed train makes vibrant debut

2018年09月26日 15:00:02 | 来源:ourjiangsu.com

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  The first high-speed train set off on its maiden trip from China's southern boomtown of Shenzhen to Hong Kong at 6:44 a.m. Sunday.

  The bullet train G5711 with 613 seats traveled 19 minutes from Shenzhenbei railway station to Hong Kong's West Kowloon Station. Tickets were booked up weeks ago on the release day.

  The trip marks the full opening of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link or XRL, stretching 141 km connecting the three cities. Part of the expansive 25,000-km rail network on the mainland, the XRL also links Hong Kong with 44 mainland destinations.

  Two minutes after departure, the train sped up to 177 km per hour. The train is designed to travel at 200 km/h in the 26-km Hong Kong section, and 300 km/h in the Guangzhou-Shenzhen section.

  Many passengers on board took out their phones to take pictures and record the trip. Some live broadcast the experience online.

  In the past, it took about two hours to travel from Guangzhou to Hong Kong by intercity line. Now, the time is cut to 47 minutes on the XRL.

  At West Kowloon Station, passengers took about 10 minutes to go through checks.

  In 2017, 241 million travelers passed the Shenzhen port, or a daily average of more than 662,000, according to the Shenzhen General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection.

  In the meantime, high-speed train G5736 Vibrant Express departed from the Hong Kong West Kowloon Station terminus to the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, at 7 a.m. local time Sunday when the whole line of the rail link officially started operation on Sunday. 

  Some 500 passengers, including those from media, came to the Hong Kong West Kowloon Station to take the first train. The carriage is quite spacious and the seats can be adjusted to face front or back.

  In less than 20 minutes, the bullet train arrived at Shenzhen North Railway Station. Leung, who could not wait for his next ride, told the reporters that he was so excited for this historic moment that Hong Kong became part of China's high-speed rail network.

  The West Kowloon Station was open at 5 a.m., one hour earlier than usual, to welcome the first batch of passengers. Customs counters started to serve at 6:15 a.m., 15 minutes ahead of schedule.

  The station was swarmed with people after opening. Passengers rushed to get their tickets, with some of them seizing this precious opportunity to take pictures before boarding the train.

  The service of the Hong Kong section high-speed rail follows the same real-name ticketing system as on the mainland. With their tickets and personal identity document ready, passengers passed through the identity check at the ticketing concourse on level B1, followed by security check.

  Passengers then went to the departure concourse on Level B3 to complete both the Hong Kong and mainland clearance procedures in one go.

  Station assistants in navy blue uniforms were around to offer help when passengers had problems in doing ID checks or were not sure what to do next.

  On level B4, high-speed train Vibrant Express, a silvery train with white and red waves on both sides of each carriage, was at the platform waiting for passengers.

  Co-location arrangement has been applied at West Kowloon Station to speed up cross-border passengers' journey. Both Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland port areas have been set up at the station.

  The 141-km Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link includes 115 km on the mainland and 26 km in the Hong Kong SAR.

  Being a key part of China's high-speed rail network, it will offer direct rail services between Hong Kong and 44 destinations on the mainland, among which 38 to be long-haul, including Beijing and Shanghai.

  (source:ourjiangsu.com)

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