No schedule for high-speed rail service resumption outside Guangdong

Up to 10,000 seats are available for passengers to travel between Hong Kong and Guangdong every day by high-speed rail trains, but journeys to other destinations in the mainland will not be resumed soon, said the transport chief.

"We will gradually increase the capacity and the number of tickets available by reviewing the demand during the initial stage of resumption of high-speed rail train," said Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung on Sunday during a visit to West Kowloon Station. 

"Tickets to Guangzhou are in great demand, and we are now negotiating with the mainland government to increase the number of trains," he added.  

The high-speed train would initially provide journeys from Hong Kong to Guangdong province. Lam said he could not confirm when long-haul journeys would resume, but that would be after talks with mainland authorities.

Roundtable lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun, who took the first high-speed train to Guangzhou this morning, described the journey as "smooth and convenient." 

The government announced yesterday that the 50,000 quotas of Hong Kong people allowed to travel north will be increased to 65,000 from Wednesday to Saturday to cope with the Chinese New Year holiday rush.

"The government should grant 3,000 more train tickets during the four days with 600 tickets allocated for Shenzhen North Station and 1,200 tickets for stations in Guangzhou," Tien said.