The Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link was put into service on Sept. 23. G79, the first high-speed train from Beijing West Railway Station to Hong Kong West Kowloon Station, began its operation at 10 a.m. on Sunday. The Revival Express (Fuxing) train took off at full capacity with 1,156 passengers, 110 of whom were headed for Hong Kong.

The G79 train departs every day from Beijing at 10 a.m. and takes 8 hours and 58 minutes to arrive in Hong Kong, with stopovers at Shijiangzhuang, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Changsha, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. The G80 train, linking Hong Kong and Beijing, departs every day at 8:05 a.m. at the Kong Hong Kong West Kowloon Station and arrives at the Beijing West Railway Station after 8 hours and 56 minutes' ride, according to a person in charge at China Railway Beijing Group.

The person from the railway company added that it used to take 24 hours and 21 minutes by train from Beijing to Hong Kong, and passengers who are headed for Kowloon in Hong Kong needed to go through the clearance procedures at the exit-entry inspection hall before re-boarding the train. In contrast, the new train enables passengers to directly go through the procedures at the Kowloon station under a co-location arrangement.

The fares of the train from Beijing to Hong Kong is set at 1,077 yuan (about US$156) for second class seats, 1,724 yuan for first class seats and 3,369 yuan for business class seats. Passengers can buy the tickets using Hong Kong dollar, Renminbi, Octopus cards, visa cards, or online payment platforms such as WeChat and Alipay.

Passengers need to collect the tickets from ticketing windows before boarding the train. Those who wish to change their tickets must do it 30 minutes prior to departure time if they depart from the Chinese mainland, and 60 minutes prior to departure time if they depart from the Hong Kong West Kowloon Station.

The launch of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link will enable direct train transportation between Hong Kong and more than 40 cities on the Chinese mainland. Industry insiders expect the number of Hong Kong-bound tourists to top 60 million this year.

During the initial operation period, the numbers of trains in operation will vary according to demand on weekdays, weekends and peak periods. Up to 127 pairs of trains will be in service on a single day during peak demand, with 114 pairs of trains from Guangzhou and Shenzhen to Hong Kong and 13 pairs of long-haul trains.

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