High-speed Rail (HK Section) sees 30m passengers in 2025, up 17%

The High-speed Rail (Hong Kong Section) carried over 30 million passengers in 2025, a nearly 17 percent increase year-on-year, MTR Corporation's chief of Cross Boundary segment Paul Wong Kah-ming.

He described the past year as "highly fruitful," with the number of mainland stations set to expand to 110 from January 26, adding Nanjing, Wuxi and Hefei.

The network, which began in 2018 and has exceeded 100 million total passengers, already covers seven major Greater Bay Area cities. Frequency has increased, and sleeper trains have been added to Beijing and Shanghai routes, with three daily Shanghai trains starting January 26.

About 70 percent of trips are for leisure, with Chaozhou-Shantou area sites about three hours away being the most popular. MTR will work with Hong Kong's tourism industry to promote "high-speed rail travel," having arranged over 60 special tourist trains last year.

Hong Kong residents now make up about 47 percent of passengers, up from around 30 percent at launch. MTR's "Flexi-trip" service for same-day ticket changes between Hong Kong and Shenzhen is used by over 2,000 people daily. Retail and dining space at West Kowloon Station has increased by over 20 percent since 2018.