Thank God for Saturday cross-border train travel

Four more train services between West Kowloon and Shenzhen will be regularized starting next Saturday, as the MTR Corp will put over 200 High-Speed Rail trains in service during the Easter and Ching Ming holidays.

The rail giant announced yesterday that four regular trains will be added every Saturday after the adjustment to cater to increasing cross-border travel demands.

Among them, two trains will run between Hong Kong West Kowloon station and Shenzhen's Futian station, while the other two will travel between Hong Kong and Shenzhen North stations and stop at Futian station. MTRC said yesterday that a total of 192 regular train trips will be provided after the adjustment, compared to the current 188 trips.

"To better cope with the travel patterns of mainland tourists traveling to HK and Hongkongers going to the mainland during weekends, the company has decided to enhance high-speed rail services every Saturday after discussing the issue with mainland rail authorities," it said.

More trains will also travel between the West Kowloon and Futian stations from today to next Saturday amid the expected influx of passengers during the Easter and Ching Ming holidays.

This came after it had announced to increase trains running between the two stations during the four-day Easter holiday.

"During the period, 12 to 14 trains for Shenzhen will be added every day, bringing the total daily train services to more than 100 pairs," MTRC said.

Tickets for the additional trains went on sale yesterday. Passengers will also benefit from a same-day flexi-trip arrangement, allowing them to make last-minute changes to their travel plans up to three times on the day of the journey.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Authority announced that private vehicles will not be charged from April 4-6 during the long holiday. Private cars with seven seats or fewer will not be required to pay the toll of 150 yuan (HK$162.4) to and from Zhuhai or Macao ports, while arrangements for vehicles to pass through the electronic and manual toll lanes will remain unchanged.

The authority also expects the bridge to peak on Friday from 9am to 3pm and expects another peak on April 6 between 3pm and 12am from Zhuhai to Hong Kong.

Shenzhen port authorities expect the Easter and Ching Ming holidays to draw around 9.5 million visitors passing through border checkpoints, with around 601,000 people entering Shenzhen on Friday and around 589,000 returning to Hong Kong on Monday.

ayra.wang@singtaonewscorp.com