A TOTAL of 127 trains will run each direction between Hong Kong and mainland cities in the early stage of operation of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL), which is scheduled to be put into service in the third quarter of this year.

The news was released Monday when a memorandum of understanding on the key operational issues for the Hong Kong section of the express rail was signed between the Hong Kong government and China Railways Corp.

The trains include 114 pairs of short-haul trains and 13 pairs of long-haul trains. The train schedule may be adjusted subject to actual operational needs.

The short-haul trains will run between West Kowloon Station in Hong Kong and Shenzhen’s Futian Station and Shenzhen North Railway Station, Dongguan’s Humen, and Guangzhou South Railway Station.

Thirteen express rail trains will run in each direction between Hong Kong and 14 long-distance destinations each day.

In terms of long-haul destinations, there will be four major routes to 14 “direct” destinations. The first covers Shantou in Guangdong Province and Xiamen in Fujian Province. The second services Nanchang in Jiangxi Province, Shanghai, and Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province, while the third will head north to Changsha in Hunan Province, Wuhan in Hubei Province and Beijing. The fourth will travel west to Guilin in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guiyang in Guizhou Province.

The memorandum says Hong Kong and mainland authorities will be permitted to set the fares for the Hong Kong section and mainland section of the XRL respectively. The price of the cross-border rail service will therefore be a total of the two.

The fare prices for the long-distance trips have not been released, but Hong Kong Transport Secretary Frank Chan Fan said they will be a combination of the price of the trip from West Kowloon to Futian, and the price for the rest of the journey on mainland soil.

Fare prices for short-distance trips to Futian, Shenzhen North Railway Station, Humen and Guangzhou South were announced earlier and will cost HK$80 (US$12.5), HK$90, HK$210, and HK$260, respectively.

After the MOU signing ceremony, HKSAR Chief Executive Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said: “I am glad that the HKSAR Government and CR signed the memorandum today. It marks the reaching of consensus in principle on financial and operational matters by both parties, and lays a sound foundation for the commissioning of the Hong Kong section of the XRL in the third quarter this year and its smooth operation subsequently.”

According to the general manager of China Railways Corp., Lu Dongfu, the high-speed railway network in China extends more than 25,000 kilometers, accounting for 66 percent of the world’s total length.(Xinhua)