The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Corporation Ltd. announced on March 30 that trial runs would be held on April 1 in the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL).
The XRL Hong Kong section will officially open to traffic in this September, according to the prior information announced by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government and the MTR Corporation Ltd.
By then, the XRL will be connected to Beijing-Guangzhou High-speed Railway. Direct high-speed train services will be available between Hong Kong and Changsha. The journey will take about 3.5 hours between West Kowloon and Changsha.
The HKSAR government and China Railways Corporation (CR) signed an agreement on the Arrangements for Preparation of Key Operational Issues for the Hong Kong Section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) in this January.
According to the agreement, both parties plan to operate more than 100 short-haul and long-haul train pairs daily at the early stage of commissioning. The short-haul trains will run between West Kowloon Station and Guangzhou South Station. There will be direct long-haul trains to cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Changsha.