Han Ximin

    ximhan@126.com

    A HIGH-SPEED train left Futian Railway Station on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-Speed Rail Link at 8:17 a.m. yesterday, marking the official opening of the station, said to be the largest underground station in Asia.

    It took about six minutes to reach Shenzhen North Railway Station, nearly 10 kilometers away. The train ran at 140 kilometers per hour, far below its designed speed of more than 200 kilometers per hour.

    “It is really fast. I just sat down and had only read a few pages of a magazine before I arrived at the north station,” said Li Jianjun, a Shenzhen resident who wanted to be on the first train.

    Hu lives near the International Trade Center Plaza in Luohu District. He had to change Metro lines to get to Shenzhen North Railway Station before taking a high-speed train to Guangzhou. Now his trip is much more simple.

    “It is very convenient now because I can take the Shekou Line to the Futian station directly,” Hu said.

    Another resident, surnamed Liu, paid the 20-yuan (US$3.17) fare to experience the trip between Futian and Longhua, the location of Shenzhen North Railway Station.

    “I don’t need to worry about traffic jams at Meilin Checkpoint. The train is fast and convenient, but it is more costly than Metro services,” said Liu, who hopes daily riders will be able to pay a cheaper fare.

    Liu said the station needs more bus links and that the area for taxis is small.

    During the initial stage of operation, the station will have 11 pairs of trains between Shenzhen and Guangzhou. The number will increase to 23 pairs after Jan. 10. The Guangzhou Railway Group Corp. is considering more cross-province trains. A trip between the two cities takes 42 minutes and costs 82 yuan for second-class seats and 108 yuan for first-class seats.

    The three-story underground station, which has a floor space of 147,000 square meters, is the second-largest in the world after New York’s Grand Central Station in the United States.

    The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-Speed Rail Link is expected to open in 2018 when the Hong Kong section is completed.

    (Special report on P2)