Full refunds for express rail fares to 'ground zero'

Passengers holding express rail tickets to Wuhan can get a full refund at the West Kowloon station if they want to cancel their trip, the MTR Corp said last night.

The announcement was made a couple hours after China State Railway Group Co said people are allowed to cancel their Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link tickets at no cost until Friday amid concerns of the viral outbreak.

During an announcement at 6pm China State Railway said all passengers are allowed to cancel their tickets to and from Wuhan with no handling fee with immediate effect until 11.59pm on Friday regardless of whether the purchase was made on its official website, at stations, or through other channels.

The MTRC released a statement two hours later, saying: "In accordance with the refund arrangements of the railway authority in the mainland, passengers who have purchased express rail tickets to and from Wuhan will get a full refund if they need to return the tickets."

Unlike earlier in the morning and afternoon, Hong Kong travelers flocked to West Kowloon station to cancel express rail tickets to Wuhan only got half of their money back.

A spokeswoman for the MTRC said those who received a 50 percent refund should contact them and "they will follow it up," but could not guarantee a full refund. A Hong Kong resident, surnamed Tong, said every year he takes his wife and two children to spend the Lunar New Year with his mother-in-law, who lives in Wuhan.

He said he finally decided to refund the tickets on Monday, after watching remarks by mainland scientist Zhong Nanshan on television.

Zhong, a renowned scientist at the National Health Commission who helped expose the scale of the SARS outbreak in 2003, said on Monday that evidence has shown the new virus causing the pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan can spread from human to human.

Tong and his family were going to depart today, but could only get a 50 percent refund for the tickets after canceling.

An MTR spokeswoman earlier said the refund policy for express rail tickets has always been the same.

Within 48 hours of cut-off time for refund - which is 60 minutes before departure - passengers can only get half of the ticket cost at ticketing counters at West Kowloon station.

The cancellation rush was sparked by experts warning against going to ground zero of the viral outbreak - Wuhan - unless strictly necessary.

There has been no travel advisory from the World Health Organization against Wuhan as the outbreak escalated, but National Health Commission expert Zeng Guang suggested that Wuhan residents not leave the city and for no one outside the city to enter it.

In Wuhan, authorities postponed Lunar New Year mega-events and demanded tour agencies not to organize package tours after Zeng suggested an effective quarantine of the entire city.

Several mainland tourism platforms, including Ctrip.com and Fliggy, announced free cancellation to passengers who book hotels or attraction tickets in Wuhan from today to January 31.

Fliggy said bookings of air, train and bus tickets will be handled with the specific refund policies on the airlines' websites and China Rail's official site.

For those sent back by an airport over concerns of suffering the virus, the platforms allow them to cancel everything they booked for free.

charlotte.luo@singtaonewscorp.com