ýÿThe Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) today (January 11) announced that, after co-ordinating with the Guangdong Provincial Government and the Shenzhen Municipal Government, and with the full co-operation of the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd (CR), the China Railway Guangzhou Group Company Limited (GRC) and the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL), approval has been obtained from the Central Government to resume services of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) West Kowloon Control Point and the XRL Hong Kong Section starting from January 15.

     A Government spokesman said, "At the initial stage of resumption of the XRL, services between Hong Kong West Kowloon Station and Futian, Shenzhenbei and Guangzhounan Stations will be resumed, while services to/from Guangzhoudong will be newly introduced. The trains will be calling at Guangmingcheng, Humen, Qingsheng, and the newly added Dongguannan and Dongguan Stations."

     The opening hours of the XRL West Kowloon Control Point will remain the same as that before service suspension, i.e. from 6.30am to 11.30pm. There will be no booking requirement at this control point. Passengers who have purchased tickets can travel between Hong Kong and the Mainland through the control point with a valid ticket. As for the anti-epidemic measure, similar to other control points, generally persons entering the Mainland from Hong Kong, or vice versa, must possess a negative result of a COVID-19 nucleic acid test conducted within 48 hours.

      "The HKSAR Government has been working closely with the relevant Mainland authorities and railway operators to ensure that the stations, trains, supporting facilities and manpower arrangements are well prepared. In particular, MTRCL, CR and GRC have arranged train trial runs since January 8 so that train captains and staff from both Hong Kong and the Mainland could familiarise themselves with the relevant procedures and cross-border track conditions, and to test the operation of the system. The disciplined services also conducted a drill at the XRL West Kowloon Control Point this morning to ensure smooth operation of the control point at the initial stage of service resumption," the spokesman said.

Ends/Wednesday, January 11, 2023
Issued at HKT 21:13

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