West Kowloon station has co-location checkpoint arrangements with mainland China (image courtesy Unsplash)
China Rail has announced the launch of high-speed sleeper trains from Hong Kong to Beijing and Shanghai.
Starting June 15, the high-speed trains will cut journey times to the mainland cities by half and increase the number of seats by 600. The service will replace the currently suspended cross-border intercity through-train service from Hung Hom.
The new service will depart from Hong Kong’s West Kowloon station. The Beijing West station service will take around 12.5 hours and the Shanghai Hongqiao service 11 hours and 14 minutes.
The trains will run Friday to Monday, the Beijing service departing West Kowloon at 6.24pm and arriving in Beijing at 6.53am the following morning and the Shanghai service leaving Hong Kong at 7.49pm and arriving into Shanghai at 6.45am. Return trips depart Beijing at 8.13pm, arriving in Hong Kong at 8.47am, and leave from Shanghai at 8.15pm to pull into Hong Kong at 7.29am the next day.
Chief executive John Lee was enthusiastic in welcoming the new service, thanking China Railway and the central government for their ‘care’.
“The new services are convenient and fast,” he said at a government conference on June 4. “It will drastically save travelling time and only take a half-day to arrive, which will also help one save on the hotel cost.”
Co-location checkpoint arrangements at West Kowloon station mean passengers can clear Chinese immigration before departure, smoothing travel further still.
Tickets start at around HK$680 depending on destination and class of seat or sleeping berth and will go on sale from 12pm on June 5. They will be available online, from China Railway station ticket counters and automatic ticket machines.
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