In-town check-in resumes but only at HK station - for now

In-town check-in service at Hong Kong Station will resume tomorrow after more than three years of pandemic - but only for Cathay Pacific flights for now.

Announcing the news yesterday, the MTRC said staffed check-in counters will be open from 6am to 3pm daily. Self check-in devices would also be set up at Hong Kong Station, enabling passengers to check-in by themselves at the counter.

Passengers can check-in and collect their boarding pass between 90 minutes and 24 hours before their flight departure, during the service hours.

However, the in-town check-in service in Kowloon station will remain closed.

MTRC transport services director Jeny Yeung Mei-chun said they will communicate with other airlines on providing in-town check-ins.

The Airport Express will also resume services to pre-Covid levels from tomorrow, with train running every 10 minutes instead of 10 to 15 minutes.

Marking the 25th anniversary of the Airport Express, a total of 75,000 free one-way Airport Express tickets will be given out on July 11, 18 and 25, with 25,000 tickets on each of the three Tuesdays. Another 25,000 HK$10 MTR vouchers will also be offered on August 1.

People would have to register an account on MTR mobile app to claim the prizes that will be given on a first come first served basis.

A special train will also be serving passengers from tomorrow to December 31, stations decorated from July 6 to August 31.

The Airport Express 25th Anniversary theme song with singer-songwriter Ivana Wong Yuen-chi as the lead singer will be released today together with a music video. Wong will appear in flash mob events at Hong Kong Station on Thursday. Airport Express mascot K T Chai will also visit various stations during the period.

Meanwhile, MTRC apologized for the high speed rail service disruption at the West Kowloon station on Saturday.

Thousands of passengers were stranded at the station for almost four hours due to signal failure. Four trains had to be cancelled and 10 trains delayed.

Chief of cross boundary segment Cheung Chi-keung said the operating system of the High Speed Railway is different from the local one and they had to work with the mainland to maintain the train services if an incident happened in any of the signal stations.

Cheung explained that the cause was due to a failure at the signal station near the West Kowloon Station and the MTR has started a thorough investigation into the incident.

"Our team is investigating the cause as well as potential measures that we could take to prevent such incidents from recurring," Cheung said.

He added that they were also reviewing the handling of the incident, including announcements to passengers and assistance provided to the affected passengers.