Hongkongers may whizz to Nansha in Guangzhou in just 10 minutes on maglev trains from West Kowloon express rail station by 2035.
The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hongkong magnetic levitation trains proposal has been renewed in a smart transportation seminar in Guangzhou last month.
Experts there said they have begun a feasibility study for five railway proposals of running 600-kilometer-per-hour maglev trains, whose final destination is West Kowloon station.
Maglev is a system that allows the train to float and glide along two sets of powerful magnets at very fast speeds. There are currently only six operational maglev regimes in the world - in China, Japan and South Korea.
Mainland experts expect an annual patronage of between 28 and 35 million for the Hong Kong plan but construction can only start in 2028 at the earliest after which it would be commissioned in 2035.
Proposed in February last year, the plan is set to better connect Guangzhou and Hong Kong, further integrating the international hub into the country's development.
The five railway proposals stretch across Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hong Kong with a total distance from 160km to 175km. The train would start in Guangzhou and travel through Dongguan or Nansha, then down Shenzhen at Qianhai or Futian, before reaching West Kowloon.
The four proposed locations for the Guangzhou stop are Guangzhou East, Zhujiang New Town, Guangzhou and Nansha. Guangzhou East and Nansha were put forward in three of the five proposed rail maps and were considered the two most probable choices.
At a speed of 600 kph, the train would take less than 10 minutes from the city center of Guangzhou to Nansha and cut travel time from Nansha to Hong Kong to 10 minutes.
A 21-meter-long prototype of the train for the plan was unveiled in January last year in Chengdu, Sichuan, with a sleek and modern design in blue and silver.
Wang Yang, chief engineer of the ministry of transport at the time, said the train has "multiple advantages as it is able to climb steep slopes and is energy-efficient and environmentally friendly."
In June, the "Nansha Masterplan" was brought to light under the central government's medium-to-long-term cooperation plans between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau.
It is understood that multiple documents and blueprints showed that the central government has been taking the construction of a maglev train station in Nansha into consideration.
bowie.tse@singtaonewscorp.com
