The Hong Kong Executive Council requested a railway corporation Monday to make further plans for the proposed railway connecting Hong Kong and Mainland, which will short the travel time between Hong Kong and Guangzhou to an hour.

According to a government press release on Monday, the Hong Kong Executive Council had told the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation(KCRC)to make further plans for the proposed Northern Link and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express as a combined project. The move has been seen as a step to consolidate Hong Kong 's position at the center of the Pearl River Delta. Upon its completion, the railway will considerably help promote Hong Kong as the gateway to the Pearl River Delta area, further strengthening the economic and cooperation ties between Hong Kong and the Mainland.

The Northern Link, which links West Rail to Lok Ma Chau for cross-boundary passengers, would offer a fast and convenient service to the boundary. It will run between West Rail's Kam Sheung Road station and the Lok Ma Chau station on the eastward spur line now being built from the KCRC's East Rail line to the border. Passengers will use the new rail's station at Chau Tau, Yuen Long, to change to the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line for East Rail travel.

Trains will use a new terminus next to the West Kowloon station on the Kowloon-Canton Railway's Southern Link. Express trains will link Hong Kong with Shibi in Guangzhou and Longhua in Shenzhen. At present, the travel time between Hong Kong and Guangzhou by the Kowloon-Guangdong through train is about 100 minutes. The express rail link will cut this to 60 minutes.

The Hong Kong section of the link, which is 30 kilometers long, will terminate at West Kowloon. It will share tracks with the Kowloon Southern Link now under construction, the section of West Rail between Nam Cheong Station and Kam Sheung Road, and then the Northern Link before branching out from Chau Tau to a dedicated track, on a viaduct and in a tunnel, for connection with the express rail's Mainland section at Huanggang.

The Mainland section will be connected to new the high-speed national rail networks now being developed, including the Beijing- Guangzhou and Hangzhou-Fuzhou-Shenzhen Passenger Lines. It will also connect to the Rapid Transit System being developed in the Pearl River Delta.

Tuan Chyau, a professor from Chinese University's department of decision sciences and managerial economics, has said the project would make Hong Kong the "core city of the Pearl River Delta region." It would bring huge economic returns and require very little investment, Tuan said.

"The flow of passengers and goods between the two sides would definitely increase," he said.

The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link is an express rail line connecting Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou with an aim to provide a fast and convenient railway service linking the three places.

The proposed Mainland section will be connected to the Beijing- Guangzhou Passenger Line and the Hangzhou-Fuzhou-Shenzhen Passenger Line which are part of the national railway system. By this rail link, Hong Kong can be connected directly with major Mainland cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai. Passengers using the Express Rail Link can also reach other major cities in the Pearl River Delta via the Intercity Rapid Rail.

Source: Xinhua