High-speed rail ticket quota increases to 14,000 per day from Tuesday

Commuters crowded in the High-speed rail station on Tuesday morning as 14,000 tickets were made available today for them to travel via the transportation tool between Hong Kong and the mainland.  

The transport authority announced Monday to increase the quota by 4,000 for the relaunched Hong Kong-Mainland cross-border trains, offering 7,000 tickets respectively for commuters to depart from or arrive in Hong Kong every day.  

Hundreds of passengers flocked into the West Kowloon Station, waiting in queue to purchase tickets on Tuesday morning.  

However, lawmaker Gary Zhang Xinyu said only one-third of high-speed rail transport capacity was taken into use currently, urging a further increase of tickets provided.  

"I believe there is still a large space for increasing ticket amounts as the high-speed rail trains are already able to serve 40,000 to 50,000 passengers each day," he said in a radio program today.

Lawmaker Perry Yiu Pak-leung agreed with Zhang’s speech, saying, "Obviously, the 14,000 quota will not be helpful to the rebound of the tourism industry but only meet the demand for citizens to visit their relatives on both sides [of Hong Kong and the mainland]".  

But tourist figures are expected to increase gradually after Lunar New Year, he said, and "it is the timing for welcoming the recovery."