Weekend, holiday services boosted on East Rail Line

The East Rail Line will see an addition of 76 extra train trips on weekends and holidays starting tomorrow in response to the growing travel demand of cross-border passengers.

MTR enhanced its service to cater to the needs of both northbound and southbound cross-boundary travelers.

The railway operator will be improving train services on the East Rail Line during mornings, evenings, and night hours on weekends and public holidays. A total of 76 additional train trips will be added to the schedule each week.

During the morning hours from 8am to 10am and in the evenings from 8pm to 11pm, the frequency between Lok Ma Chau and Sheung Shui will be increased to every 10 minutes.

The frequency between Sheung Shui and Admiralty will be increased to every 3.8 minutes and 4.2 minutes during the morning and evening peak hours, respectively.

As a result, the train frequency between Admiralty and Tai Po Market station, as well as Lok Ma Chau station, will increase.

Trains traveling between Lok Ma Chau and Sheung Shui will now be only 10 minutes apart instead of the previous 14.5 minutes in the evenings. This marks the most significant improvement, while waiting times for trains during other hours will also be reduced by 12 seconds to two minutes.

“To better accommodate the travel patterns of passengers, we will be increasing the train frequency between Admiralty and Tai Po Market, as well as Lok Ma Chau to facilitate northbound and southbound travelers,” the railway operator said.

MTR said that it will monitor the operations and travel patterns of various railway lines and maintain close communication with relevant departments to tailor the train services accordingly.

Additionally, starting today, the frequency of trains between Hong Kong West Kowloon Station and Shenzhen’s Futian Station will be significantly increased for the upcoming three weekends.

Over 200 additional train trips will be provided daily to meet the rising number of tourists.

Last Saturday, more than 222,000 people traveled north through the Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau Spur Lines, and over 156,000 people crossed the two border points on Sunday.

Peter Shiu Ka-fai, a lawmaker from the wholesale and retail sector, said he is optimistic about the train frequencies and their positive impact on tourism on both sides.

He said that it would be ideal to transform Shenzhen’s current one individual visit scheme per week into a multiple-entry scheme and gradually expand the policy to cities in the Greater Bay Area.

Shiu added that expanding the individual visit scheme to multiple cities would be an effective way to encourage more mainland tourists to visit Hong Kong.

“Hong Kong should continue organizing major projects and promoting tourism. The wholesale and retail sector should provide more incentives to tourists, making them believe that the city is worth visiting,” he said.