Cross-border high-speed rail passenger numbers have exceeded pre-pandemic levels, with users surpassing 17 million this year, Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation has said.
The railway operator on Thursday also announced that the passenger figures for the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays reached a record-high.
“During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays … passenger numbers also hit a new high of more than 100,000,” the operator said in a statement.
Travellers from mainland China arrive at West Kowloon. Passenger numbers for the high-speed rail link surpassed 17 million this year. Photo: Yik Yeung-man
The line linking the city with the neighbouring mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen had registered “the most significant growth” among the high-speed routes, the MTR Corp said.
Since March, mainland tourists have accounted for more than half of high-speed rail passengers, while the number of those using the service from across the border has also exceeded 2019 levels from July onwards.
Passenger numbers for the year hit 17 million on the weekend, according to the rail giant, which was more than the full 2019 figures before the pandemic.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po has said airport passenger numbers are expected to rise at the end of 2023. Photo: Dickson Lee
Hong Kong’s West Kowloon station currently connects the city to 73 mainland destinations, with the operator vowing to open more routes and stations in the future. Lines servicing Guangzhou East, Chengdu East and Zhanjiang West were also added earlier this year.
Immigration Department statistics showed that nearly half a million people from the mainland visited the city between September 29 and October 2 this year, representing 87 per cent of total arrivals over the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day long weekend. On October 1, visitors crossing the border peaked at 177,770.
At a conference earlier this week, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said that passenger traffic levels at Hong Kong International Airport were also expected to return to about 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year, and would fully recover next year.
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