RTHK News:
Govt to build a dedicated HK track for new Guangzhou rail link (http://www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/news/englishnews/20070802/news_20070802_56_420829.htm)

--The HK Gov't should use this plan at first!!! :bash: :bash: :bash:

The cost of construction is really up in the air comparing to share track.

But the thing is, the track standard for high speed train is different from the West Rail which mean the high speed cannot run on West Rail. If we want faster train service and be competitive, we simply have no choice but build a new railway.

It's going to be a new railway. The HSR will not share tracks with West Rail.

Is this going to be built by KCR, or will a new company be set up to run it?

Is this going to be built by KCR, or will a new company be set up to run it?

KCR and MTR will merge into one railway company very soon.
I would think the track will be built under the new company but it won't be the operator.

http://www.mingpaonews.com/20070803/03GGZ.gif

Express railway between Hong Kong and southern China

HONG KONG, Aug 2, 2007 (AFP) - An express rail link will be built between Hong Kong and southern Chinese cities Shenzhen and Guangzhou, Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang said Thursday.

Tsang said the new line would significantly reduce travel time between the Asian financial hub and booming industrial cities over the border in mainland China. Train travel between Hong Kong and Guangzhou currently takes two hours.

"This will...help strengthen Hong Kong's status as the regional transportation hub and as the 'southern gate' for travelling to and from the mainland," Tsang said in a statement.

The chief executive made the announcement after holding a cooperation conference with Huang Huahua, governor of Guangdong province which includes the two cities.

During the meeting, both sides reiterated their commitment on reducing emissions, mostly from booming industries in the province, often blamed for air pollution in Hong Kong.

Guangdong authorities also promised to toughen checks on food supplies coming over the border into Hong Kong.

Hong Kong has been plagued by health scares over imported produce mainly from mainland China which is the city's principle source of foodstuffs.

Imports of farmed fish, eels and eggs were banned last year after cancer-causing chemicals were found in some samples.

廣 深 港 高 鐵 車 程 僅 48 分 鐘
星島日報報道

連接西九龍至廣州的廣深港高速鐵路，決定以專用通道方案建造。行政長官曾蔭權昨日在第十次粵港聯席合作會議中表示，專用通道將縮短香港至廣州的時間至約一小時，有助鞏固香港作為內地「南大門」的策略地位。九鐵表示會配合政府決定，據了解，香港段造價達三百億元，鐵路公司期望政府出資或補貼興建，望最快二○一四年落成。

港府去年要求九鐵研究廣深港高速鐵路香港段的設計，包括詳細分析與西鐵、北環铫共用通道方案，以及專用通道兩個方案的技術及財務安排。九鐵其後進行詳細項目建議書，並於今年中提交港府。

曾蔭權昨日出席第十次粵港聯席合作會議中，宣布港府決定採用專用通道的方案。「特區政府在
詳細考慮廣深港高速鐵路香港段的技術要求、客運量預測、香港未來的經濟發展和與廣東省愈來愈密切的經貿關係等因素後，決定香港段應以專用通道方案建造。」

他期後在記者會上再解釋，專用通過有助鞏固本港作為內地南大門的策略地位。「專用通道可以提供一條暢通無阻的鐵路通道，直接接駁內地的鐵路網絡，這個方案能夠大大縮短往來香港與廣州的行車時間，同時亦有助鞏固香港作為進出內地『南大門』的策略地位。」

九鐵提供的資料顯示，專用通道直接由西九龍接駁至深圳，行車速度最高達每小時一百六十公里；相反共用通道方案，距離較長，在西九龍出發後途經南昌、美孚、荃灣西、錦上路站，最高時速只有一百三十公里。因此使用專用通道，香港至廣州的行車時間只需四十八分鐘，比起共用通道的六十分鐘，節省十二分鐘。

不過，專用通道的造價，比共用通道貴百分之四十七，工程時間遲一至兩年。曾蔭權承認，專用通道是最可取方法，而且經濟效益亦較大，日後由廣州前往香港，過了深圳一個站便可直達香港市區，反而共用西鐵路軌的方案，西鐵車站較多，而且路軌的寬度與內地鐵路不配合。

他表示，政府及九鐵正積極和內地有關單位，討論廣深港高速鐵路的接駁點、隧道設計、以及分配行車時段等具體細節。

九鐵發言人稱，專用通道全長二十七公里，由西九龍站向北伸延，全程以隧道形式建造，至落馬洲附近穿過深圳河，接駁內地段，九鐵會配合政府的決定。

廣深港高速鐵路前稱「區域快铫」，全長約一百八十公里，車站數目及位置經多次修改，目前確定全程共五個車站。內地段於○五年十二月動工，預計二○一○年落成，惟香港段連走铫一直也「懸而未決」。由於鐵路將接駁國家高速鐵路網，可直接抵達全國多個城巿，九鐵預計落成後，滬九及京九直通車的行車時間，可由現時分別二十小時及二十四小時，大為縮短至八至十小時。

2007/8/3

Guangzhou rail link will fast track integration
3 August 2007
South China Morning Post

Hong Kong should always be exploring ways for greater integration with the mainland, and the high-speed rail link with Guangzhou is one such opportunity. The line will afford quicker access to the capital of our nearest province and, perhaps more importantly, will better connect our city to the national railway network.

For these reasons, the government's decision yesterday to forego an option to use the underutilised West Rail as part of the project in favour of a dedicated line is welcome. Although the option will raise costs by 50 per cent for the sake of a 12-minute shorter travelling time, the long-term advantage is likely to be significant.

West Rail may not have a large volume of passengers at present, but with our population projected to rise by 1.71 million by 2036, the chances are high that this will change. The line runs through some of the most sparsely populated parts of Hong Kong; they are prime areas to house the extra people the government anticipates will move here. With West Rail fulfilling its role as a commuter line, the need for a dedicated high-speed link to the rest of China is necessary.

The mainland is spending tens of trillions of yuan modernising its inefficient rail system and raising its speed. Hong Kong, at the southern tip of the nation, cannot afford to be left out of the national grid or to be the laggard that slows the system down.

It is easy for Hong Kong to decide to build a dedicated rail line within its territory. Getting a consensus on another major transport link with the mainland - the Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai bridge - has proven more difficult. Finance and the location of checkpoints have been cited as outstanding concerns.

It is to be hoped that the three governments concerned will resolve them expeditiously with vision and foresight. With the breakneck pace at which the region with a population of more than 50 million is developing, several bridges - not one or two - will surely need to crisscross the Pearl River estuary to meet surging demand in the years to come.

A government fast track to spending
14 August 2007
South China Morning Post

Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen announced on August 2 that the new express rail link between Hong Kong and Guangzhou, via Shenzhen, would be built as a dedicated track, instead of sharing the existing West Rail line.

The dedicated-corridor option will cut journey times by 12 minutes to the border. Yes, 12 minutes. And the price for this? At around HK$30 billion, the option costs a staggering HK$10 billion - or 50 per cent - more than the alternative shared-corridor option. It also delays completion of the link by two years, which means it would be ready four years after the mainland section.

Mr Tsang acknowledged the additional cost and time by saying it would bring immense economic benefits, without offering any detail. One cannot help but wonder what these "immense benefits" could be.

Just how much a 12-minute time saving means to each of us varies, but HK$10 billion is a lot of money to anybody. With the increased investment, Raymond So Wai-man, a professor at Chinese University, estimated the fare to Guangzhou may have to be up to HK$2,000, just to break even. Today, the journey costs HK$190. Professor So thinks that unless the government provides subsidies, the profitability of the link will not be sufficient to attract private investors.

What about the shared-corridor option? Certainly, it is not a novel concept; East Rail has, for the past century, been Hong Kong's only rail link with the mainland.

According to the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation's 1999 annual report: "When West Rail, Phase I, opens in 2003, it will serve 340,000 passengers a day on high-speed, high-capacity trains. Patronage will rise to more than 500,000 passengers a day by 2011" However, only a meagre 200,000 passengers use West Rail each day. By contrast, the East Rail system carries more than 677,000 passengers a day. No matter how you look at it, West Rail is a massively under-utilised system.

The need to build the Hong Kong section of a regional high-speed rail network presented us with a great opportunity to make West Rail work better. In fact, until earlier this year, the shared-corridor option appeared to be the preferred choice. Han Biao, a Shenzhen University professor who has studied rail systems in the Pearl River Delta, said there was little need to build a dedicated line, as growth in demand was expected to be moderate at best.

Apparently, times have changed. The economy has improved and, so, the government's priorities have changed. Rather than raising revenue, its mission is to spend. The Development Bureau was established with the explicit objective of making sure the government meets its target of spending at least HK$29 billion a year on infrastructure projects.

Besides the 12-minute advantage, Mr Tsang cited two other reasons for the choice of the costlier option: first, the difference in track widths between Hong Kong and mainland lines; and second, under the shared-corridor option, trains would have to pass through several stations, making it unsuitable for a non-stop service.

Presumably, the difference in track widths does not make the option technically unfeasible, otherwise it would not have been considered in the first place. As for the second point, one cannot help wonder how a train passing through some stations without stopping poses any problem. The fact that Mr Tsang used these two apparently dubious reasons to justify the decision further raises suspicion.

In Hong Kong, infrastructure is viewed not only as a means to stimulate economic development, but almost as an end in itself. Guided by such blind faith, we have built our share of white elephants. The government ought to provide a detailed explanation to justify an additional HK$10 billion. Our taxpayers deserve better than rhetorical reassurances from the chief executive.

Bryan Wong is core organiser of the 30SGroup. www.30SGroup.org

Rail transport hub will help boost cross-border business
19 September 2007
South China Morning Post

West Kowloon's attraction for people doing regular business with the mainland has been put on the right track with an agreement between the government and Guangdong authorities over an express rail link.

The proposed Guangdong-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link will form a new line which will shorten the journey to Guangzhou to just 48 minutes, while the border will be a mere 13 minutes away.

The present rail route from Hung Hom to Guangzhou takes 110 minutes.

Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen announced the deal following the 10th Plenary of the Hong Kong-Guangdong Co-operation Joint Conference last month. The deal involves a "dedicated corridor option" being adopted to link with the mainland rail network instead of the KCRC West Rail being developed.

"This will help strengthen Hong Kong's status as the regional transport hub and as the 'southern gate' for travelling to and from the mainland," Mr Tsang said.

The proposal will see Kowloon Station forming part of a terminus by 2014, the earliest date given for the expected completion of the line.

Government sources put the estimated cost for the line at about HK$25billion - 50 per cent more than the West Rail "shared corridor" option. This journey would have taken longer due to the stations along the route.

The line would enhance transport connections already being developed for West Kowloon and make offices and residential areas around Union Square ideal for cross-border business.

Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Agency executive director Victor Lui Ting said: "Time is money, so the ICC [International Commerce Centre] will offer the ideal location for cross-border businesses for mainland companies setting up in Hong Kong or Hong Kong companies and multinationals looking to the north for opportunities."

Mr Lui said that because Kowloon Station would be the hub connecting to the mainland rail network it would make cross-border transport more efficient and "ICC tenants more competitive".

The public transport features of the ICC and the surrounding road network are seen by the property sector as essential for the success of the ICC Tower and its surrounding facilities.

Nigel Smith, executive director of office services for CB Richard Ellis, said that in addition to the easy rail connections the government's highway network plan would put the ICC in an enviable position with direct vehicular access to the airport and the New Territories.

He said the Shenzhen Western Corridor, linking the northwest New Territories and Shekou in Shenzhen, would significantly improve cross-border traffic.

A new cross-border coach terminus planned for Kowloon Station would also give ICC tenants and Union Square residents a full range of travel options.

Simon Smith, a senior director with Savills (Hong Kong), said the ICC's location would be essential as business and financial links with the mainland grew. "Hong Kong's stock market is the first choice for mainland companies raising funds," he said.

"The number of mainland firms listed in the SAR increased by 44 per cent from 2000 to 2005 and their market capitalisation grew 1.3 times over the same period. The mainland is also Hong Kong's most important trading partner."

Mr Smith said the days of businesses being concentrated in a few areas in Hong Kong were coming to an end with the ICC now widely recognised as having an advantageous location and comprehensive transport connections.

Mr Lui said opportunities brought by the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement showed the importance of strengthening transport links between Hong Kong and the mainland. He said the policy of facilitating mainland investments in Hong Kong would create new business opportunities and the ICC would be at the heart of this activity.

區域快線議員轟明益港鐵
18/11/2007
東方日報

http://the-sun.on.cc/channels/news/20071118/img/a41118a_big.jpg

http://orientaldaily.on.cc/photo/20071118/new/1118nhko20b1.jpg

港 府 一 直 被 批 評 遲 遲 未 能 將 廣 深 港 高 速 鐵 路 （ 又 稱 區 域 快 線 ） 香 港 段 的 工 程 上 馬 ，以 致 香 港 段 遠 遠 落 後 於 廣 東 進 度 。 為 了 令 工 程 可 以 趕 及 在 ○ 九 年 動 工 ， 港 府 擬 採 用全 資 興 建 的 模 式 ， 即 全 數 支 付 高 達 三 百 億 元 的 建 造 費 用 ， 待 鐵 路 落 成 後 ， 再 租 予 香港 鐵 路 公 司 營 運 五 十 年 ， 然 後 才 將 鐵 路 資 產 一 併 交 回 政 府 。 港 府 強 調 此 舉 好 處 是 可解 決 港 鐵 無 法 自 行 融 資 填 興 建 的 難 題 ， 令 工 程 能 盡 快 上 馬 。 但 有 議 員 批 評 此 舉 是 明 顯 偏 幫 港 鐵 ， 剝 削 市 民 的 選 擇 權 。

廣 深 港 高 速 鐵 路 香 港 段 將 以 專 用 通 道 方 案 建 造 ， 全 長 廿 七 公 里 ， 並 以 隧 道 形 式 建 造， 造 價 高 達 三 百 億 元 。 港 府 希 望 可 趕 及 在 ○ 九 年 上 馬 ， 二 ○ 一 五 年 完 工 。 但 廣 東 方面 早 在 ○ 五 年 底 動 工 ， 料 最 快 二 ○ 一 ○ 年 完 工 。 據 了 解 ， 港 府 內 部 曾 研 究 過 多 個 融資 方 案 ， 但 考 慮 到 沿 線 鐵 路 可 發 展 的 上 蓋 物 業 不 多 ， 即 使 可 供 發 展 ， 在 保 育 反 對 建屏 風 樓 的 浪 潮 下 ， 發 展 潛 力 亦 不 大 ， 港 鐵 自 行 融 資 填 興 建 的 誘 因 並 不 高 。

幸 而 在 庫 房 水 浸 下 ， 港 府 有 較 大 理 財 空 間 ， 但 考 慮 到 再 注 資 入 鐵 路 公 司 ， 難 免 予 人偏 幫 鐵 路 公 司 的 觀 感 ， 倒 不 如 參 考 兩 鐵 合 併 採 用 的 租 賃 模 式 ， 自 行 直 接 斥 資 建 造 ，再 以 服 務 經 營 權 的 模 式 ， 將 鐵 路 租 予 港 鐵 ， 經 營 數 十 年 如 五 十 年 後 ， 再 將 鐵 路 資 產移 交 還 政 府 。

港 府 消 息 指 ， 這 個 方 案 的 好 處 是 可 以 令 鐵 路 盡 快 上 馬 ， 解 決 港 鐵 無 法 填 興 建 的 難 題 ， 由 於 鐵 路 資 產 的 擁 有 權 仍 掌 握 在 政 府 手 中 ， 故 不 存 在 偏 幫 港 鐵 之 嫌 ， 即 使 港 鐵 營 運 有 利 潤 ， 政 府 作 為 港 鐵 的 最 大 股 東 亦 可 分 紅 。

可 採 競 投 不 應 鼓 勵 壟 斷
此 外 ， 港 府 內 部 正 積 極 研 究 在 此 條 新 鐵 路 的 西 九 龍 總 站 興 建 一 座 聯 檢 大 樓 ， 並 採 取「 一 地 兩 檢 」 通 關 模 式 ， 成 為 本 港 繼 深 西 通 道 第 二 個 採 用 此 模 式 的 跨 境 口 岸 。 不 過， 由 於 這 個 模 式 涉 及 複 雜 的 法 律 及 口 岸 問 題 ， 港 府 預 計 在 明 年 才 可 完 成 規 劃 和 設 計程 序 。

立 法 會 交 通 事 務 委 員 會 成 員 陳 偉 業 指 若 政 府 採 全 資 興 建 廣 深 港 高速 鐵 路 ， 再 租 予 港 鐵 營 運 的 模 式 ， 明 顯 是 偏 幫 港 鐵 的 做 法 ， 對 其 他 有 意 經 營 的 機 構及 市 民 都 不 公 平 。 他 說 ， 外 國 亦 有 政 府 自 行 興 建 鐵 路 ， 交 予 鐵 路 公 司 營 運 的 做 法 ，但 是 會 採 競 投 形 式 ， 不 會 只 鼓 勵 一 間 公 司 壟 斷 市 場 。 他 又 說 ， 港 府 一 直 揚 言 推 行 大市 場 、 小 政 府 ， 不 明 政 府 何 以 仍 要 扮 演 主 導 角 色 及 製 造 壟 斷 情 況 。

行會通過興建廣深港高速鐵路


(星島) 04月 22日 星期二 11:07AM

行政會議 通過用300多億元，興建來往香港至廣州的廣深港高速鐵路。高速鐵路建成後，由香港前往廣州只是需要48分鐘，由政府全資興建，之後以50年服務經營權模式租予港鐵營運。由於這條是跨境鐵

路，消息指，港鐵可以參考直通車的運作模式，收益與內地拆帳，或者兩地組成一間合營公司營運。有學者表示，一條鐵路最重要是令香港與內地其他鐵路接軌。廣深港高速鐵路香港段總站在西九龍，全程在隧道內行走，經落馬洲 連接廣東段，第一個個車站在深圳 福田，這段行車時間只需要13分鐘，之後再經龍華、虎門，到石壁的廣州新站，車程只需大約48分鐘，較現時的港穗直通車快一倍。乘客還可以在廣州新站，轉乘京港客運專線，北上直達北京 ，亦可以在中途站龍華，轉乘杭福深客運專線，前往福建及浙江。高速鐵路在香港的車站，旁邊是西九龍文化區，亦會與港鐵東涌 線及機場快線的九龍站連接。計劃中會在車站的上蓋，發展一座地標式的摩天大廈。

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh255/aboveday2008/2357669260_18da4535b1_b.jpg

RTHK News:
Exco approves spending on rail link (http://www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/news/englishnews/20080422/news_20080422_56_484435.htm)

Exco approves new rail link (http://www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/news/englishnews/20080422/news_20080422_56_484483.htm)

April 22, 2008

*
Express Rail Link wins ExCo's nod
*

The Executive Council has agreed to ask MTR Corporation to proceed with further planning and design of the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, Secretary for Transport & Housing Eva Cheng says.



The section will be a 26km underground rail line that runs from the terminus in West Kowloon to the boundary at Huanggang, where it will connect with the link's Mainland section.



The project is expected to create 5,000 construction jobs and 10,000 more during its operation. Works are due to start in 2009 for completion in 2014 or 2015.



Briefing the media today, Ms Cheng said the link will reinforce the city's position as the transport hub in southern China and integrate Hong Kong into the country's rapidly growing express rail network.



Hi-speed dedicated track

The Hong Kong section will run on the city's first high-speed dedicated track with a maximum speed of 200kph. This will cut the Hong Kong-Guangzhou traveling time to just under 50 minutes - twice as fast as the Guangzhou-Hong Kong through trains on the East Rail alignment.



The link's two termini will be at West Kowloon in Hong Kong and Shibi in Guangzhou. Intermediate stations include Futian and Longhua in Shenzhen, and Humen in Dongguan.



With the adjoining Airport Express Kowloon Station and West Kowloon Station of the Kowloon Southern Link, the link's terminus will turn West Kowloon into a major rail hub. Linkages will be provided to facilitate commuters.



"The location also has a point-to-point connection with the heart of Central via the existing MTR network. Together with the Kowloon station's new commercial development, it is set to become a prime business centre," Ms Cheng said.



Cultural district extension

The Hong Kong terminus will partly extend into the 3.3-hectare underground area of the West Kowloon Cultural District to provide convenient access. Flexibility of the above-ground planning will be maintained.



This integration will greatly enhance the prominence of the rail terminus as the gateway to Mainland China, and the WKCD as a regional cultural hub, Ms Cheng said, adding more visitors to the proposed art, culture and tourism facilities there will promote cultural tourism.



The Mainland terminus at Shibi, where the new Guangzhou Station is located, is one of the four largest passenger transport centres in the country.



In future, commuters will be able to switch to such express long-haul services as the proposed Beijing-Guangzhou Passenger Line at Shibi and the Hangzhou-Fuzhou-Shenzhen Passenger Line at Longhua. The two passenger lines are also due to complete around 2015.



Travel time cuts

Hong Kong commuters will be able to travel express to several Mainland cities, reaching Shanghai in eight hours and Beijing in 10 in future, as compared with over 20 hours now, Ms Cheng said.



The link is due to carry about 100,000 passengers daily in 2020 and 120,000 passengers in 2030, saving 40 million hours of traveling time and generating $83 billion in economic benefits over the next 50 years. The economic internal rate of return is about 9%.



"After careful consideration of both the operational and financial implications, the Government has decided to adopt a concession approach to fund the estimated construction cost of $39.5 billion," she said.



"Upon completion, the MTRC will be granted a service concession for the subsequent operation and pay the Government annually for the concession," Ms Cheng noted.



Since the Government will fund the construction cost, the development rights for the site above the Hong Kong terminus will not be granted to the MTRC.



Ms Cheng hoped the detailed design would be ready within this year and her bureau will seek funding from the Legislative Council as soon as possible.

April 22, 2008

*
Express Rail Link wins ExCo's nod
*

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh255/aboveday2008/2357669260_18da4535b1_b.jpg

The Executive Council has agreed to ask MTR Corporation to proceed with further planning and design of the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, Secretary for Transport & Housing Eva Cheng says.



The section will be a 26km underground rail line that runs from the terminus in West Kowloon to the boundary at Huanggang, where it will connect with the link's Mainland section.



The project is expected to create 5,000 construction jobs and 10,000 more during its operation. Works are due to start in 2009 for completion in 2014 or 2015.



Briefing the media today, Ms Cheng said the link will reinforce the city's position as the transport hub in southern China and integrate Hong Kong into the country's rapidly growing express rail network.



Hi-speed dedicated track

The Hong Kong section will run on the city's first high-speed dedicated track with a maximum speed of 200kph. This will cut the Hong Kong-Guangzhou traveling time to just under 50 minutes - twice as fast as the Guangzhou-Hong Kong through trains on the East Rail alignment.



The link's two termini will be at West Kowloon in Hong Kong and Shibi in Guangzhou. Intermediate stations include Futian and Longhua in Shenzhen, and Humen in Dongguan.



With the adjoining Airport Express Kowloon Station and West Kowloon Station of the Kowloon Southern Link, the link's terminus will turn West Kowloon into a major rail hub. Linkages will be provided to facilitate commuters.



"The location also has a point-to-point connection with the heart of Central via the existing MTR network. Together with the Kowloon station's new commercial development, it is set to become a prime business centre," Ms Cheng said.



Cultural district extension

The Hong Kong terminus will partly extend into the 3.3-hectare underground area of the West Kowloon Cultural District to provide convenient access. Flexibility of the above-ground planning will be maintained.



This integration will greatly enhance the prominence of the rail terminus as the gateway to Mainland China, and the WKCD as a regional cultural hub, Ms Cheng said, adding more visitors to the proposed art, culture and tourism facilities there will promote cultural tourism.



The Mainland terminus at Shibi, where the new Guangzhou Station is located, is one of the four largest passenger transport centres in the country.



In future, commuters will be able to switch to such express long-haul services as the proposed Beijing-Guangzhou Passenger Line at Shibi and the Hangzhou-Fuzhou-Shenzhen Passenger Line at Longhua. The two passenger lines are also due to complete around 2015.



Travel time cuts

Hong Kong commuters will be able to travel express to several Mainland cities, reaching Shanghai in eight hours and Beijing in 10 in future, as compared with over 20 hours now, Ms Cheng said.



The link is due to carry about 100,000 passengers daily in 2020 and 120,000 passengers in 2030, saving 40 million hours of traveling time and generating $83 billion in economic benefits over the next 50 years. The economic internal rate of return is about 9%.



"After careful consideration of both the operational and financial implications, the Government has decided to adopt a concession approach to fund the estimated construction cost of $39.5 billion," she said.



"Upon completion, the MTRC will be granted a service concession for the subsequent operation and pay the Government annually for the concession," Ms Cheng noted.



Since the Government will fund the construction cost, the development rights for the site above the Hong Kong terminus will not be granted to the MTRC.



Ms Cheng hoped the detailed design would be ready within this year and her bureau will seek funding from the Legislative Council as soon as possible.

Please Delete.

http://www.mtr.com.hk/eng/projects/images/xrl_train.jpg

Hong Kong Section
Route Length: 26 km
Max Speed: 200km/hr
Completion year: 2014/2015
Journey Time:
14 min to Shenzhen
48 min to Guangzhou
8 hr to Shanghai
10 hr to Beijing
http://www.mtr.com.hk/eng/projects/images/xrl_proposal.jpg

West Kowloon Terminus > Futian station, Shenzhen > New Shenzhen station > Humen station, Dongguan > New Guangzhou station
http://www.mtr.com.hk/eng/projects/images/xrl_map.jpg


FAQ

Q: Why adopt dedicated corridor instead of shared corridor?

A: The Shared Corridor Option (SCO) has been re-assessed in the light of latest planning parameter and system data from the Mainland. The SCO will not be able to meet the service requirement envisaged by 2016 and extensive modifications to the existing railway line will unavoidably disrupt the daily operations of the West Rail Line. In addition, operating constraints will be induced on both WRL and XRL that would compromise the service level and operation efficiency of both lines.


Q: Why there is no intermediate railway station in the New Territories?

A: The purpose of the line is to better integrate Hong Kong with the Mainland. Majority of the people traveling to HK will go to the city centre for shopping or business. In addition, having additional intermediate stations will significantly increase the journey time from WKT to Futian, which will defeat the purpose of having express rail services.


Q: Will the Hong Kong Section be completed later than the Mainland section?

A: The Mainland section of XRL from Guangzhou to Shenzhen will be completed around 2010/2011 with the terminal station at Futian. The Hong Kong section will be fast tracked with a target completion by year 2014 / 2015.

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It must be the easiest concept alignment plan ever being drawn in HK history. Two straight lines and two curves bring the system form the heart of the city to the boarder. There is going to be so much deep underground tunnel boring and drilling in the next decade just for this railway in HK section and possibly from the boarder to Futian as well.

I understand why there should not be intermediate stations in the New Territories. But why does Shenzhen get to build two stations so close to each other?

I understand why there should not be intermediate stations in the New Territories. But why does Shenzhen get to build two stations so close to each other?
Not sure but New Shenzhen Station will become a terminus of another HSR (Hangzhou-Fuzhou-Shenzhen Passenger Line).

http://www.mingpaonews.com/20080423/_23gc301.jpg

It is not easy for the tourists to travel from Mongkok (the heart of Kowloon) or from East Kowloon to West Kowloon station. I hope the government will soon see this problem and build another Kwun Tong Line branch to link Yau Ma Tei station with West Kowloon station. The trains at Yau Ma Tei can then go to Whampoa and West Kowloon.

^^ The whole area is still under development, I suppose they will address this with time, but you're right, currently,during my stays in Hong Kong I never go to West Kowloon, and the only way I get there is through MTR, it feels like such a strange place, like its disconnected from everywhere else.

It is not easy for the tourists to travel from Mongkok (the heart of Kowloon) or from East Kowloon to West Kowloon station. I hope the government will soon see this problem and build another Kwun Tong Line branch to link Yau Ma Tei station with West Kowloon station. The trains at Yau Ma Tei can then go to Whampoa and West Kowloon.

The problem will be solved when the Central Kowloon Route project get bulit

http://www.central-kowloon-route.com.hk/graphic/eng_west.jpghttp://www.central-kowloon-route.com.hk/graphic/eng_central.jpghttp://www.central-kowloon-route.com.hk/graphic/eng_east.jpg

http://www.central-kowloon-route.com.hk/eng/oos.htm

It won't be the ultimate solution. Road transport can never replace rail transport. Bus routes usually avoid the fastest way and tend to waste some time in the narrow pedestrian streets to pick up more passengers. Also, most HK people can only rely on bus or MTR.:ohno::ohno::ohno:

Would the Kowloon Southern Link solve some of those problems? Of course, it is necessary to build a rail link to connect Kowloon Station of the Tung Chung Line to lower the burden of the Kwun Tong Ling and Tsuen Wan Line.

Will the Beijing-Guangzhou rail link be linked to this project? If not, I don't see the need for that many platforms...

This is the first time I'm hearing about the "New Guangzhou Railway Station", it's quite a distance from Guangzhou... Is the place being developed?

Will the Beijing-Guangzhou rail link be linked to this project? If not, I don't see the need for that many platforms...

This is the first time I'm hearing about the "New Guangzhou Railway Station", it's quite a distance from Guangzhou... Is the place being developed?

Beijing-Guangzhou rail link will be terminated at this station and it will be connected with GZ Metro Line 2. This Metro Line would connect the People Park Station, which is close to the Beijing Road Pedestrian St, the Downtown of GZ. It would have a large development there.

High-speed rail link will slash travel times to Beijing, Shanghai
Hong Kong Standard
Wednesday, April 23, 2008

http://thestandard.com.hk/newsimage/20080423/5_2008042300182253431rail.jpg

Hong Kong will become the staging point for fast-track trips to a host of mainland cities after the green light was given for a HK$39.5 billion rail link connecting the city to Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Due for completion in 2014/2015, when it will be fully integrated with the mainlands rail network, the link starting in West Kowloon will cut travel times between Hong Kong and Beijing and Shanghai from the current 24 and 20 hours to 10 and eight, respectively.

Secretary for Transport and Housing Eva Cheng Yu-wah said: The integration into West Kowloon will greatly enhance the prominence of the rail link as the gateway to mainland China.

Travel times between Hong Kong and Guangzhou will be cut in half to 48 minutes, officials said, and the link will dovetail into other networks all over the mainland from the Guangzhou hub.

The Hong Kong section a 26-kilometer underground track on which trains will run at speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour was endorsed by the Executive Council yesterday.

Cheng said the initial construction cost will be paid by the government while the MTR Corporation (0066) will be given the right to operate the line for 50 years through the payment of annual concession fees under a build-operate- transfer arrangement that is similar to one reached for the Sha Tin-to-Central link.

Profits will be shared on a ratio of nine to one between the government and the MTRC.

The Express Rail Link will run from a terminus in West Kowloon the only stop
in Hong Kong through stops in Futian and Longhua in Shenzhen, and Humen in Dongguan before the journey ends at Shibi in Guangzhou.

Cheng said the government believes the area around the terminus, which will extend into the West Kowloon cultural district, will become a new commercial center as well as a transport hub.

The integration into West Kowloon will greatly enhance the district as a regional cultural hub, she said.

Fares for the journey have yet to be determined as they will be subject to talks the government will hold with mainland authorities.

Fares of the existing through-train service will be the starting point of reference.

Cheng said 37 percent of travelers on the new express link are expected to be new passengers, meaning the rest would be people currently using other means of transport like the through train or the cross-boundary coaches.

She expects the terminus to accommodate 10 trains, both ways, an hour, though the number of trains will be Leg 1based on market forces. Cheng also pointed out the development rights for the site above the West Kowloon terminus - at 5.8 hectares - will not be granted to the MTR. Instead it will be given to the Development Bureau for normal land auction procedures.

There will be pedestrian crossings linking the three stations in the area - the West Kowloon terminus which will Leg 2have 14 terminals, the West Kowloon Station on the Kowloon Southern Link, as well as the existing Kowloon station.

Work is expected to commence next year after gaining funding approval from the Legislative Council.

Cheng said the project will create 5,000 jobs during construction and another 10,000 afterwards.

MTRC chief executive Chow Leg 3Chung-kong welcomed the endorsement, saying fares will be competitive.

Legco transport panel chairman, Democrat Andrew Cheng Kar-foo, said he was opposed to the government's granting operating rights to the MTR.

He said public bidding would have allowed for the possibility of cheaper fares.

行 會 拍 板 建 廣 深 港 高 鐵
港 段 斥 資 395 億 　 全 程 票 價 料 400 元

http://appledaily.atnext.com/images/apple-photos/apple/20080423/large/23la3p11new.jpg





【 本 報 訊 】 香 港 與 內 地 的 「 距 離 」 將 大 大 縮 短 ， 行 政 會 議 昨 通 過 興 建 類 似 日 本 新 幹 線 的 高 速 鐵 路 連 接 香 港 至 廣 州 ， 香 港 段 建 造 成 本 395 億 元 ， 全 部 由 政 府 負 責 ， 並 以 專 營 權 方 式 交 由 港 鐵 營 運 。 新 鐵 路 預 計 明 年 動 工 ， 最 快 2014 年 通 車 ， 往 深 圳 只 需 14 分 鐘 ， 往 廣 州 只 需 48 分 鐘 ， 比 現 時 快 一 倍 ， 但 運 輸 業 界 估 計 ， 新 鐵 路 全 程 票 價 可 能 高 達 300 至 400 元 。 　 記 者 ： 麥 志 榮 、 黃 偉 駿 、 湯 家 明


運 輸 及 房 屋 局 局 長 鄭 汝 樺 昨 在 記 者 會 表 示 ， 計 劃 中 的 廣 深 港 高 速 鐵 路 香 港 總 站 設 於 西 九 龍 文 娛 藝 術 區 隔 鄰 ， 鐵 路 會 以 隧 道 方 式 直 達 皇 崗 過 境 ， 在 內 地 有 深 圳 福 田 、 深 圳 龍 華 、 東 莞 虎 門 三 個 中 途 站 ， 內 地 總 站 為 廣 州 石 壁 。


西 九 龍 總 站 或 一 地 兩 檢

她 表 示 ， 廣 深 港 高 速 鐵 路 在 內 地 可 接 駁 興 建 中 的 南 北 及 東 西 高 速 鐵 路 網 絡 往 全 國 各 地 ， 其 中 往 北 京 將 縮 短 至 需 10 小 時 。 香 港 的 總 站 也 會 有 行 人 天 橋 連 接 附 近 的 東 涌 線 九 龍 站 及 興 建 中 的 九 龍 南 線 九 龍 西 站 ， 方 便 旅 客 轉 車 往 港 島 及 到 新 界 。 車 站 設 計 會 與 西 九 龍 文 娛 藝 術 區 融 合 ， 方 便 旅 客 來 港 觀 賞 西 九 的 文 化 藝 術 節 目 。

新 鐵 路 將 以 時 速 200 公 里 的 高 速 列 車 行 走 ， 提 供 每 小 時 10 班 的 中 港 直 通 車 服 務 ， 鄭 汝 樺 稱 ， 港 府 正 研 究 在 西 九 龍 總 站 提 供 一 地 兩 檢 的 出 入 境 服 務 ， 具 體 的 中 港 合 作 營 運 模 式 及 票 價 仍 要 和 內 地 鐵 路 部 商 討 。 香 港 段 建 造 成 本 395 億 元 ， 全 部 由 香 港 政 府 出 資 ， 為 免 公 開 招 標 再 延 誤 工 程 兩 至 三 年 ， 港 段 鐵 路 直 接 交 予 港 鐵 負 責 興 建 及 營 運 50 年 ， 其 間 收 入 扣 除 經 營 成 本 後 ， 九 成 歸 政 府 ， 港 鐵 只 佔 一 成 。 新 鐵 路 建 造 期 間 可 創 造 5,000 個 新 職 位 ， 營 運 期 更 可 創 造 10,000 個 職 位 。

港 鐵 行 政 總 裁 周 松 崗 表 示 ， 廣 深 港 高 速 鐵 路 可 提 供 類 似 日 本 新 幹 線 及 歐 洲 之 星 的 高 速 鐵 路 服 務 ， 繁 忙 時 間 10 多 分 鐘 便 有 一 班 列 車 ， 比 飛 機 更 方 便 ， 預 計 到 2020 年 ， 新 鐵 路 每 日 可 接 載 10 萬 名 乘 客 ， 其 中 63% 來 自 現 有 的 過 境 交 通 ， 在 整 體 過 境 交 通 的 市 場 佔 有 率 將 達 15% 至 16% ， 現 時 以 紅 磡 為 總 站 的 中 港 直 通 車 服 務 屆 時 需 調 整 班 次 。




http://appledaily.atnext.com/images/apple-photos/640pix/20080423/Article_news/23la3p2newa.jpg

位 於 西 九 龍 總 站 ， 共 有 14 個 月 台 ， 供 直 通 列 車 過 夜 停 泊 。 運 輸 及 房 屋 局 提 供 圖 片


中 港 澳 直 通 巴 士 聯 會 秘 書 長 陳 宗 彝 指 出 ， 根 據 內 地 公 佈 的 資 料 ， 廣 深 港 高 速 鐵 路 內 地 段 成 本 為 167 億 元 人 民 幣 ， 連 同 港 段 成 本 ， 總 成 本 約 500 億 港 元 ， 以 初 期 每 年 700 萬 人 次 載 客 量 推 算 ， 全 程 票 價 需 300 至 400 元 才 能 回 本 ， 比 現 時 直 通 巴 士 票 價 80 至 100 元 貴 了 兩 、 三 倍 。 新 鐵 路 廣 州 總 站 設 於 石 壁 ， 並 非 市 中 心 ， 直 通 巴 士 卻 可 以 提 供 點 對 點 服 務 ， 加 上 內 地 新 高 速 公 路 落 成 後 ， 直 通 巴 士 車 程 也 可 加 快 ， 新 鐵 路 未 必 能 搶 走 直 通 巴 士 乘 客 。



廣 深 港 高 速 鐵 路 行 車 時 間
由 香 港 前 往 ： 深 圳 福 田 　 時 間 ： 14 分 鐘
由 香 港 前 往 ： 深 圳 龍 華 　 時 間 ： 23 分 鐘
由 香 港 前 往 ： 廣 州 石 壁 　 時 間 ： 48 分 鐘
由 香 港 前 往 ： 湖 南 長 沙 　 時 間 ： 4 小 時
由 香 港 前 往 ： 福 建 廈 門 　 時 間 ： 4 小 時
由 香 港 前 往 ： 福 建 福 州 　 時 間 ： 5 小 時
由 香 港 前 往 ： 湖 北 武 漢 　 時 間 ： 5 小 時
由 香 港 前 往 ： 廣 西 南 寧 　 時 間 ： 5 小 時
由 香 港 前 往 ： 上 海 　 時 間 ： 8 小 時
由 香 港 前 往 ： 北 京 　 時 間 ： 10 小 時
由 香 港 前 往 ： 四 川 成 都 　 時 間 ： 12 小 時



廣 深 港 高 速 鐵 路 資 料
路 線 ： 西 九 龍 到 皇 崗 過 境 ， 經 深 圳 福 田 、 龍 華 、 東 莞 虎 門 至 廣 州 石 壁
全 長 ： 142 公 里 ， 香 港 段 26 公 里 ， 內 地 段 116 公 里
行 車 速 度 ： 每 小 時 200 公 里
班 次 ： 每 天 200 班
載 客 量 ： 每 小 時 每 方 向 可 接 載 10,000 名 乘 客
香 港 段 建 造 成 本 ： 395 億 元
香 港 段 動 工 時 間 ： 2009 年
香 港 段 完 成 日 期 ： 2014 至 2015 年
資 料 來 源 ： 運 輸 及 房 屋 局

It is not easy for the tourists to travel from Mongkok (the heart of Kowloon) or from East Kowloon to West Kowloon station. I hope the government will soon see this problem and build another Kwun Tong Line branch to link Yau Ma Tei station with West Kowloon station. The trains at Yau Ma Tei can then go to Whampoa and West Kowloon.

Going to West Kowloon from Monkok and East Kowloon cannot be more easier,
the West Kowloon Station will be connected to the 1) West Kowloon Station of West Rail, and West Rail will be connected to the 2)East Rail and 3)Shatin-Central Link, moreover, East Rail and Shatin-Central Link is already connected to 4)MTR lines, that means you can go to Mongkok and East Kowloon without any difficulties.

車 站 上 蓋 建 娛 樂 購 物 中 心
日 本 原 宿 高 鐵 站 作 藍 本

廣 深 港 高 速 鐵 路 西 九 龍 總 站 的 上 蓋 ， 部 份 發 展 將 仿 效 日 本 原 宿 高 速 鐵 路 總 站 ， 興 建 多 層 式 娛 樂 購 物 中 心 。 雖 然 鐵 路 最 快 於 數 年 後 通 車 ， 地 產 界 人 士 預 測 ， 該 區 的 豪 宅 市 場 將 吸 引 經 常 往 返 中 港 兩 地 商 人 進 駐 。
廣 深 港 高 速 鐵 路 西 九 龍 總 站 的 上 蓋 發 展 共 有 約 10 公 頃 ， 其 中 5.8 公 頃 將 交 由 發 展 局 按 一 般 政 府 土 地 進 行 規 劃 ， 暫 時 未 定 用 途 。 消 息 人 士 說 ， 預 計 政 府 會 委 託 港 鐵 一 併 發 展 地 底 車 站 及 上 蓋 土 地 ， 構 思 以 日 本 原 宿 高 速 鐵 路 總 站 為 藍 本 ， 發 展 地 標 性 摩 天 大 樓 ， 包 括 多 層 式 的 消 費 娛 樂 購 物 中 心 ， 配 合 高 鐵 總 站 帶 來 大 量 內 地 旅 客 和 人 流 。



日 本 原 宿 高 鐵 站 作 藍 本
至 於 其 餘 3.3 公 頃 位 於 西 九 龍 文 娛 藝 術 區 ， 預 計 可 興 建 少 於 20 層 的 商 業 樓 宇 或 酒 店 ， 收 益 全 歸 西 九 管 理 局 ， 位 於 地 底 的 車 站 將 有 保 護 設 施 ， 防 止 列 車 的 震 動 及 噪 音 影 響 藝 術 區 內 的 劇 院 及 博 物 館 。
地 產 界 認 為 ， 消 息 利 好 九 龍 站 上 蓋 豪 宅 ， 區 內 物 業 市 場 將 吸 引 經 常 往 返 中 港 兩 地 商 人 進 駐 ， 預 期 投 資 者 入 市 ， 由 目 前 佔 整 體 交 易 約 30% 增 至 今 年 底 約 35% 。 據 知 ， 位 於 九 龍 站 附 近 佐 敦 的 八 文 樓 ， 早 前 已 有 投 資 者 於 區 內 進 行 收 購 合 併 ， 相 信 鐵 路 消 息 公 佈 後 ， 併 購 價 將 會 提 升 。

凸 顯 中 國 南 大 門 角 色
時速300公里十句鐘抵北京


23/04/2008




【 本 報 訊 】 廣 深 港 高 速 鐵 路 是 全 國 高 速 鐵 路 網 絡 的 一 部 分 ， 當 高 鐵 香 港 段 完 工 後 ， 旅 客 便 可 乘 坐 時 速 達 二 百 至 三 百 公 里 的 高 速 列 車 穿 梭 中 港 兩 地 的 大 城 市 ， 由 本 港 前 往 上 海 、 北 京 亦 只 需 要 八 至 十 個 小 時 ， 特 別 適 合 來 去 匆 匆 的 商 務 旅 客 。

凸 顯 中 國 南 大 門 角 色
港 鐵 行 政 總 裁 周 松 崗 指 ， 內 地 高 鐵 網 絡 由 北 至 南 ， 從 哈 爾 濱 到 北 京 、 武 漢 、 長 沙 、 廣 州 ； 東 至 西 則 將 杭 州 、 上 海 、 成 都 等 城 市 連 結 。 高 鐵 香 港 段 凸 顯 了 本 港 作 為 中 國 南 大 門 的 角 色 ， 可 直 接 連 接 內 地 共 一 萬 二 千 公 里 長 的 鐵 路 網 。

當 高 鐵 全 面 建 成 後 ， 旅 客 可 在 福 田 站 轉 乘 深 圳 地 鐵 一 、 四 號 線 及 穗 莞 深 城 際 鐵 路 ， 亦 或 在 新 深 圳 站 （ 龍 華 ） 轉 乘 地 鐵 四 、 五 、 六 號 線 ， 或 於 新 廣 州 站 （ 石 壁 ） 轉 乘 廣 州 地 鐵 二 及 七 號 線 。 除 可 轉 乘 內 地 地 鐵 外 ， 在 新 深 圳 站 乘 客 亦 可 轉 乘 杭 福 深 客 運 專 線 往 福 州 及 杭 州 ， 又 或 在 新 廣 州 站 乘 京 廣 或 武 廣 客 運 專 線 往 北 京 及 武 漢 。 高 鐵 計 劃 採 用 內 地 自 行 研 發 的 子 彈 火 車 「 和 諧 號 」 ， 最 高 時 速 可 達 三 百 五 十 公 里 。

周 松 崗 謂 ， 根 據 日 本 新 幹 線 及 英 法 Euro Star 的 經 驗 ， 一 千 公 里 範 圍 內 、 三 至 四 小 時 高 鐵 列 車 車 程 對 乘 客 吸 引 力 很 大 ， 而 乘 客 更 可 於 列 車 上 辦 公 。 至 於 設 於 西 九 龍 的 高 鐵 香 港 總 站 ， 會 有 十 四 個 月 台 ， 毗 鄰 機 鐵 九 龍 站 及 九 龍 南 線 的 九 龍 西 站 ， 三 站 之 間 有 行 人 通 道 連 接 ， 方 便 乘 客 轉 車 到 本 港 每 一 個 角 落 。

4 hours to Fujian? That'll be a nice weekend getaway!

Going to West Kowloon from Monkok and East Kowloon cannot be more easier,
the West Kowloon Station will be connected to the 1) West Kowloon Station of West Rail, and West Rail will be connected to the 2)East Rail and 3)Shatin-Central Link, moreover, East Rail and Shatin-Central Link is already connected to 4)MTR lines, that means you can go to Mongkok and East Kowloon without any difficulties.
It CAN BE much more easier if:

1) no interchange is needed when someone travels from the heart of Kowloon, ie Nathan Road - Mongkok section.

2) no interchange is needed when someone travels from East Kowloon via Kwun Tong Line.

One 1km Kwun Tong Line branch can bring two significant changes.



Also consider the following ridiculous process if one tries to go from Mongkok to West Kowloon by rail: [first from Mongkok to Tsim Sha Tsui, then WALK 5 minutes to TST East station platform, then wait 1.5 minute for an interchange, then to the goal]

That's 15 minutes vs 5 minutes.

It CAN BE much more easier if:

1) no interchange is needed when someone travels from the heart of Kowloon, ie Nathan Road - Mongkok section.

2) no interchange is needed when someone travels from East Kowloon via Kwun Tong Line.

One 2km Kwun Tong Line branch can bring two significant changes.



Also consider the following ridiculous process if one tries to go from Mongkok to West Kowloon by rail: [first from Mongkok to Tsim Sha Tsui, then WALK 5 minutes to TST East station platform, then wait 1.5 minute for an interchange, then to the goal]

That's 15 minutes vs 5 minutes.

Ridiculous process?!
If you can't handel a 5 minutes walk, why don't you just simply take a taxi?

Ridiculous process?!
If you can't handel a 5 minutes walk, why don't you just simply take a taxi?
A 5-minute interchange walk will definitely downgrade the quality/experience of a MTR journey. I see numerous HK commuters and forumers that are complaining about the bad interchange in Mei Foo station, or TST East station or even Quarry Bay station.

It CAN BE much more easier. It is a huge difference between 15 min and 5 min, and my proposed Kwun Tong Line branch is just 1 km long. Your taxi argument simply can't deny the significant changes for building a short branch, can you?

A high speed rail terminus is as important as a downtown airport. Its rail connection is extremely important so that the effects can be maximized.


Futian station has 7 interchanges:
Three intercity railways to Guangzhou, Weizhou, Jiangmen, four SZ metro lines 2, 3, 11, 14

New Shenzhen station has 5 interchanges:
One HSR to Hangzhou, one intercity railway to Dongguan, three SZ metro lines 4, 5, 6

New Guangzhou station has 4 interchanges:
One HSR to Wuhan, one intercity railway to Zhuhai, two GZ metro lines 2, 7

West Kowloon station is the terminus of a HSR. It deserves a better connection with the rest of Kowloon.

All the major city central railway stations in Germany literally have matrices of subway, tram and bus connections around and underneath them.

I think it is a reasonable pick of the site there.

1st, it is very difficult to find a site this big in the already crowded Monkok or East Kowloon.

2nd, Building it in between the Airport Express Kowloon Station and MTR Kowloon West station already provide very good connection to the rail system. Even the existing HungHom station couldn’t provide such interchange connectivity. I doubt you can find a site else where you can have 5, 6, or 7 railroad interchanges in HK. Perhaps, you can complaint that HK’s railroad system doesn’t have a super hub like some Mainland cities do, but it does mean HK’s rail system is anything worse than these mainland cities.

3rd, as an intercity high speed railway, many travelers will carry luggage. In this case, mtr connection may not be as important as taxi, coach bus, and airport express connections. Then, building it next to the Eastern Harbor Tunnel which connects to the HK Island, Central Kowloon Route which connects to central and east Kowloon, and the West Kowloon Express which connects to north Kowloon and NT is very convenient.

Some seem very pissed and offended by the decision that the terminal is going to be built in this site. Or may be they can tell us what other brilliant idea they have in mind. Of coz, those plans involving spending trillion of dollars, demonizing thousand of homes, or another 100 acre of reclamation of the Victoria Harbor can be provided for amusement here.

The fact that the HSR will not stop at any central Guangzhou station at all will seriously affect the passenger load factor in spite of the central station location in Hong Kong. Sure, it is nice to reach Beijing and Shanghai in 10 and eight hours, but operation experience around the world suggests that HSR cannot compete with air travel if the journey time exceeds three hours. In short, the essence of the HSR is city center to city center high speed services requring minimal check-in time.

I think it is a reasonable pick of the site there....
Yes, the West Kowloon station is a GOOD site and I don't think anyone can find a better site. It's good to see that the government finally decides to build the HSR terminus there.



However, all these wonderful West Kowloon development projects are currently more or less being cut off from the rest of Kowloon, especially from both centres of West Kowloon and East Kowloon - Mongkok and Kwun Tong. To make it even worse, the East TST station is a bad interchange which always adds 13 minutes to commuter's 2-direction journey time. Note that Shenzhen will be just 14 minutes away from West Kowloon. Anyway the first step is to improve the connectivity within Kowloon. Its connection with the core urban area of Kowloon should be improved, and can be improved significantly if a one-km MTR branch is built. That branch won't just serve the West Kowloon station alone, but also the entire Kowloon CBD and the new cultural hub.

In short, the essence of the HSR is city center to city center high speed services requring minimal check-in time.
Very true, every minute is precious when it comes to the hundred year war between HSR and airports. A good HSR station should be easily accessed by the city's urban centres in order to maximise its positive effect. And that's why I see there is a huge driving force trying to link the Kowloon's city centres (namely Mongkok, Kwun Tong) with the West Kowloon HSR station.

The fact that the HSR will not stop at any central Guangzhou station at all will seriously affect the passenger load factor in spite of the central station location in Hong Kong. Sure, it is nice to reach Beijing and Shanghai in 10 and eight hours, but operation experience around the world suggests that HSR cannot compete with air travel if the journey time exceeds three hours.

The journey time on HSR is less than 12 hours. This means sleeping is not required, this will bring a critical psychological effect in China. Many Chinese people have a painful memory that they slept on old trains with strangers day after day. and the price is cheaper than the air travel, I guess many Chinese people will go to Beijing or Shanghai by HSR.

Also, breaking the 1-hour barrier is another critical psychological factor. The journey time to Guangzhou is now reduced from 105 minutes to 48 minutes. As far as I know, the New Guangzhou station is not a remote place.

Will the Beijing-Guangzhou rail link be linked to this project? If not, I don't see the need for that many platforms...
The terminus will have 14 platforms (10 long, 4 short).

In 2020, the terminus will have 150 daily train arrival from 10 cities. In 2030, the terminus will have 345 daily train arrival from 15 cities.

How far is the new Guangzhou HSR station away from the Guangzhou city center? It looks like the station is actually very far away from city center. Why isn´t the new Guangzhou HSR station built in or near the city center when Guangzhou has plently of land in comparison with Hong Kong?

How far is the new Guangzhou HSR station away from the Guangzhou city center? It looks like the station is actually very far away from city center. Why isn´t the new Guangzhou HSR station built in or near the city center when Guangzhou has plently of land in comparison with Hong Kong?
It is far away from the city centre but the capacity of old Guangzhou has already reached its limit for a long time and there is no cheap way to significantly expand its capacity in the future. In fact, Guangzhou station is not a normal city central station, it is the central station of a province, and the province is more populous than Germany. Anyway, there will be direct rail service linking the new with the old.

Flagship highspeed services should not be compromised in such a manner. I have a feeling that a lot of people will switch to traveling on buses from Hong Kong if they want to travel to central Guangzhou in the future. Germany, being the "smaller" country, has a much more mobile population and receives more travelers from around the world. Frankfurt has about 700,000 inhabitants and yet the Frankfurt central station processes 350,000 visitors a day.

Make sure you know the unique problem of China - the crazy amount of mobile population in coastal area of China. 30,000,000 mobile workers in this province must go to and fro their home provinces via the railway, before and after the Chinese new year celebration. It's a serious challenge to handle tens of million unstoppable human in the station. Riots may occur if things go wrong. With the other 85,000,000 wealthier inhabitants in the province, and more and more can afford holiday trips in other provinces, all things will only make the old station even worse.

I know of the population demographics in China. Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjian are getting new or vastly expanded central railway stations in city center locations. Why isn´t Guangzhou getting a NEW central railway station in the city center? I am sure that there is way more land available in the Guangzhou city center than in Hong Kong.

But all these Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin are municipalities, they are not provincial railway capitals like Guangzhou. That's a huge fundamental difference.

Why isn´t the station built in the center of the provinical capital? The majority of Hong Kong-Guangzhou passengers will switch to direct bus services for sure.

Bus takes 3 hours, so the train option is still very attractive even if transferring from a station in the middle of nowhere. I'd imagine they'd build a subway link out there so the trip into Guangzhou takes at most an hour?

There isn´t that much time saving at the end after all, so it seems.

The 3-hour bus journey is very uncomfortable for most HK people and the fare is not that cheap. If the bus wants to survive, it must cut the fare and provide better point-to-point services. The HSR won't lose even in the worst case (everyone is watching the HSR) but its fare can't go too high. After all, the passengers will have more options and the options will be better than before.

Talking about building the new HSR station not in the centre of Guangzhou, this opens up opportunities to create another major CBD/town centre within Guangzhou to make the city even more mega.

Foshan is about 30 kilometers west of Guangzhou. What is the distance between "new" Guangzhou (the location for the new HSR station) and "old" Guangzhou?

Foshan is about 30 kilometers west of Guangzhou. What is the distance between "new" Guangzhou and Guangzhou?

Approx. 15km

I think them should buil this route.

HK Airport > HK > Shenzhen> Shenzhen Airport > Guangzhou > Guangzhou Airport

I think them should buil this route.

HK Airport > HK > Shenzhen> Shenzhen Airport > Guangzhou > Guangzhou Airport
A good HSR should stick with city centres and go straight to other cities but a good airport is usually far away from city centres. It's not possible to throw one stone to hit two birds in most cases unless you throw twice. Also, HK's Airport Express railway now has a station next to the HSR Terminus. This means the airport is just 20 minutes away from the HSR. The only chance for the airport to get its own HSR station would be some decades later to build another HSR line in between HK and Macau via HK airport or simply to upgrade the Airport Express to HSR standard.

-Any update on the Chek Lap Kok-Shezhen Airport rail link?
-Will the Airport Express Kowloon Station be connected to the new Hong Kong HSR station with underground passages or pedestrian foot bridges?
-Does the structure design of the Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai bridge reserve space for future railway track addition?

-Any update on the Chek Lap Kok-Shezhen Airport rail link?
-Will the Airport Express Kowloon Station be connected to the new Hong Kong HSR station with underground passages or pedestrian foot bridges?
-Does the structure design of the Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai bridge reserve space for adding railway tracks in the future?

-No.
-Yes. Can't see why it won't be done.
-No.

-Will the Airport Express Kowloon Station be connected to the new Hong Kong HSR station with underground passages or pedestrian foot bridges?

Note that the lowest level in Kowloon Station are the Tung Chung Line platforms. The Airport Express platforms and the passage are on the same underground level.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o312/carylam/Untitled6.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh255/aboveday2008/gsh1.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh255/aboveday2008/gsh2.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh255/aboveday2008/gsh3.jpg


Source: Environmental Protection Department

^^^
Elevation -15m at the terminus, goes down -75m at SSP, then coming back up to +50 under Shek Yam. That's 125m elevation change between SSP and Shek Yam.
It all makes sense why it has to be so deep underground in SSP and bring back up closer to the surface in Shek Yam. But just interesting to see how much elevation it has to be.

Wonder why there is the need of a sag under Kai Kung Leung. From the profile doesn't seem like it needs one between the two vent shafts. A straight slope will do the trick there.

Underground station construction begins
21 August 2008
South China Morning Post

Work started in Shenzhen yesterday on the mainland's first main-line underground railway station.

The project will form part of the planned Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express rail link, connecting Hong Kong to the nation's high-speed rail network, mainland media reported.

The Shenzhen Municipal Urban Planning Bureau said the new three-storey station in Futian district, the city's booming commercial area, would be a passenger transfer hub for the Pearl River Delta's intercity rail network, Xinhua reported.

One floor of the underground project will be occupied by the express rail station, another will be used to connect to Shenzhen's metro system, and the third will house a ticketing hall.

Passengers will have to take the subway to reach the express rail line because the underground station will not have car parking.

Xinhua said the expected travelling time between Guangzhou and Shenzhen would be 33 minutes, and 27 minutes between Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link is a proposed 142km express line to connect the major Guangdong centres of Guangzhou, Dongguan and Shenzhen with Hong Kong, and is to be completed by 2014.

All of the infrastructure for the project, including tracks and stations, will be built from scratch.

The express line is expected to boost the inflow of people and goods to Hong Kong and the most developed areas of Guangdong. The Hong Kong government expects the line to carry 100,000 passengers a day by 2020 and 120,000 by 2030.

Later, commuters will be able to switch to such express long-haul services as the proposed Beijing-Guangzhou and Hangzhou -Fuzhou -Shenzhen passenger lines. Those two lines are expected to be completed around 2015.

Hong Kong rail travellers will be able to reach Beijing in 10 hours, compared with 20-plus hours now.

Will the high speed rail services completely replace the current services?

Will the high speed rail services completely replace the current services?

Even if the existing service from Hung Hom gets axed, there is still an easy way to get to Guangzhou - take East Rail to Lo Wu, cross the border, then on the other side, get on the express train from Shenzhen Station for a high-speed journey to Guangzhou.

Is the answer yes or no?

Is the answer yes or no?

I can't confirm that, but I doubt the HSR will completely replace the existing normal service.

The normal service schedule may be reduced. Besides HK<>GZ, there are still intermediate stations as well.

MTR Press Release:
Know more about Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (Hong Kong Section) (http://mtr.com.hk/eng/corporate/file_rep/PR-08-089-E.pdf)

The new refined alignment would be like this:
http://discus.hkru.org/attachments/month_0810/20081001_0c2cafb96af6f3b203fd7XXNvwsrGPp4.jpg
http://discus.hkru.org/attachments/month_0810/20081001_05087e3d5e89a9df4654ubxhehx1SzM3.jpg
http://discus.hkru.org/attachments/month_0810/20081001_c9838db255631b5d52f8hnh71WnN1mvd.jpg
The red one is the old plan and the blue one is the new plan.
(Images from a thread in a local forum posted by declan)

^^^ In terms of constructibility, it is definitely going to be easier for the Kowloon Peninsular Section and several ventilation shafts.

But it also tweaks a little more by the terminus, so it's going to be a little slower on the approach and departure.

Are the realigned tracks final?

Are the realigned tracks final?

More likely not.
It's just another option, but I would say that's one step closer to the final.

The new refined alignment would be like this:
http://discus.hkru.org/attachments/month_0810/20081001_0c2cafb96af6f3b203fd7XXNvwsrGPp4.jpg
http://discus.hkru.org/attachments/month_0810/20081001_05087e3d5e89a9df4654ubxhehx1SzM3.jpg
http://discus.hkru.org/attachments/month_0810/20081001_c9838db255631b5d52f8hnh71WnN1mvd.jpg
The red one is the old plan and the blue one is the new plan.
(Images from a thread in a local forum posted by declan)

Nice find! Really looking forward to its construction~ :okay:

Route of express rail link shifted to avoid older districts
1 October 2008
South China Morning Post

The MTR Corporation has amended its plans for the multibillion-dollar cross-border express rail link between Guangzhou and Hong Kong by shifting its route westwards to avoid densely built-up older districts in its southern Hong Kong section.

The new alignment of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link was published yesterday in a submission by the rail operator to the Environmental Protection Department.

The corporation described the new alignment as "optimised" after studying proposals to "enhance the overall rail network for the benefits of the local community and by taking account of all interfacing projects and constraints".

The rail link will enhance Hong Kong's transport links with the mainland. Estimated to cost HK$39.5 billion, it is expected to shorten the rail journey to Guangzhou from nearly two hours to 48 minutes.

The line, construction of which is expected to begin next year for operation by 2015, will run underground and there will be no station between its terminus in West Kowloon and Futian station in Shenzhen.

The corporation said the length of the Hong Kong section of the line remained at 26km under the revised plan, but its southern section had been shifted westwards to avoid going underneath Sham Shui Po and Shek Kip Mei and their clusters of old buildings. Instead, the line would run under Nam Cheong, Lai Chi Kok and Kwai Chung.

A graded historical building would now not face any effects from the project, but the old Lai Chi Kok Hospital was added to buildings that might be affected. Ventilation buildings for the line were also repositioned under the new plan.

Affected areas might be exposed to noise during construction, which the MTR has pledged to mitigate. It said that in soft ground, the tunnel would be constructed mainly by a tunnel-boring machine, and drill and blast techniques in rock strata.

"The changes are made to avoid the areas with many buildings to minimise impacts on residents and the traffic," said a spokeswoman, who could not say at this stage whether the change would lower or raise costs.

She rejected suggestions that the move was to reduce potential effects of tunnelling on old and poorly maintained buildings in Sham Shui Po, saying the tunnel - at a depth of 30 metres - would have minimal effect on the land surface.

Yau Tsim Mong district council member Chan Man-yau said the council had not been informed about the alignment changes, though the MTR Corp had agreed to report on progress next week.

He said that while the council would need further details about the project to gauge the effects of construction on the district, he believed the new alignment might attract more complaints than the old one.

"The previous alignment would have gone beneath the old district. Now it will go through newly developed zones, and residents there will certainly make more noise about the project," he said.

Call to begin rail link in Yuen Long
17 February 2009
South China Morning Post

A green group will apply to the Town Planning Board to stop the building of a cross-border railway station in West Kowloon.

Green Sense said the government should build the terminus for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link in Yuen Long instead of West Kowloon.

"There is no reason why residents in the New Territories should go all the way to Kowloon to take a train to the mainland," the group's chairman Roy Tam Hoi-pong said.

The rail link, estimated at HK$39.5 billion, will start construction this year and is to be up and running by 2015. It is expected to cut the route to Guangzhou from nearly two hours to 48 minutes. It will be built underground and there will be no stop between the West Kowloon terminus and Futian station in Shenzhen.

Mr Tam said the government should build a section from Shenzhen to West Rail's Kam Sheung Road Station, near Yuen Long.

"Passengers should then switch over to the West Rail if they want to head for Kowloon. It is unnecessary and a waste of money to build a new route and a new terminus specifically for the cross-border train."

His group will submit an application to impose a "no railway station development" condition on the site of the West Kowloon terminus. "Such an expensive railway project will inevitably need residential developments to finance it. We are worried there would be more wall-like housing in West Kowloon."

A spokesman for the Transport and Housing Bureau said "an interchange station at the New Territories will inevitably extend the travelling time and will hinder the [service's] effectiveness". The bureau received 85 objections during a two-month consultation, he said, and objection letters related to land resumption in Choi Yuen Tsuen in Yuen Long.

Call to begin rail link in Yuen Long
17 February 2009
South China Morning Post

A green group will apply to the Town Planning Board to stop the building of a cross-border railway station in West Kowloon.

Green Sense said the government should build the terminus for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link in Yuen Long instead of West Kowloon.

"There is no reason why residents in the New Territories should go all the way to Kowloon to take a train to the mainland," the group's chairman Roy Tam Hoi-pong said.

The rail link, estimated at HK$39.5 billion, will start construction this year and is to be up and running by 2015. It is expected to cut the route to Guangzhou from nearly two hours to 48 minutes. It will be built underground and there will be no stop between the West Kowloon terminus and Futian station in Shenzhen.

Mr Tam said the government should build a section from Shenzhen to West Rail's Kam Sheung Road Station, near Yuen Long.

"Passengers should then switch over to the West Rail if they want to head for Kowloon. It is unnecessary and a waste of money to build a new route and a new terminus specifically for the cross-border train."

His group will submit an application to impose a "no railway station development" condition on the site of the West Kowloon terminus. "Such an expensive railway project will inevitably need residential developments to finance it. We are worried there would be more wall-like housing in West Kowloon."

A spokesman for the Transport and Housing Bureau said "an interchange station at the New Territories will inevitably extend the travelling time and will hinder the [service's] effectiveness". The bureau received 85 objections during a two-month consultation, he said, and objection letters related to land resumption in Choi Yuen Tsuen in Yuen Long.

thats really silly - they might as well ask them to terminate the rail-line in SZ and get ppl to go onto mtr to get to the city centre.

Doesn't the Government own a large area of ex-military establishments in Shek Kong that could be re-classified into residential zones?

Having a station there would certainly up the value considerably and easily pay for a station in the NT's. Just imagine SK airstrip opened to regional executive jets and GZ train station meaning 10 mins from Kowloon or Shenzhen, the area on the side of the mountains could become a very convenient place to live.

I think the PLA would make some noise about that... :lol:

港跨境基建融入內地










【明報專訊】擬於2014至15年建成通車的廣深港高速鐵路，將會全面接駁內地3層鐵路網，包括全國高速鐵路網、區域城際鐵路網，以及深圳市和廣州市的城市地鐵網。鑑於通往北京的高鐵可能較廣深港高鐵更早落成，港府準備利用9個地底隧道鑽挖機同時間開工，希望提早一年在2014年通車。

9部隧道鑽掘機擬齊開工

全國的高鐵網會分段落成，至2020年全面開通，而來往北京至武漢的京武段，以及廣深港高鐵的內地段將於2012至13年開通，武漢至廣州則稍遲，但在國家4萬億人民幣刺激經濟方案下，落成日期可能提早；但高鐵香港段要待2015年才可啟用。消息人士解釋，香港早年用了很長時間討論高鐵用現西鐵線還是用專線的問題，這些時間已不能追回。

但他指出，香港段主要於地面下，為加快工程速度，政府計劃使用9個，幾乎是全球所有隧道鑽挖機同步開工。

廣深港高鐵駁通3層鐵路網

政府消息指出，當廣深港高鐵建成後，將可接駁內地3層鐵路網，第一層是全國的高鐵網，屆時香港往北京只需10小時(現25小時)，往上海只需8小時(現20小時)。高鐵速度有如日本的新幹線、法國的TGV。

至於第二層，鐵路可轉至其他區域城際鐵路，廣深港高鐵終站為石壁，將是全國最大鐵路樞紐，列車可通往全國各地；亦可經深圳龍華站或福田站，轉至通往杭州、福建的杭福深專線或至廣東全省的穗莞深城際鐵路。另外，廣州石壁、深圳龍華和福田，均接駁廣州和深圳的地鐵網，這屬第三層接駁。

消息表示，高鐵的終站將設在新建的西九龍站，發展成熟後，可每5分鐘開出一班城際鐵路，每日可開出20班長途直通的高速列車。

Explanation sought over plan to sacrifice seafront to terminus
19 March 2009
South China Morning Post

A watchdog has challenged the MTR Corporation's plan to take up a large portion of seafront within the West Kowloon Cultural District to build a cross-border railway terminus, fearing it will sacrifice opportunities to open up the harbourfront for public enjoyment.

The Harbourfront Enhancement Committee yesterday refused to support the plan until the Home Affairs Bureau, the co-ordinator of the arts-hub project, offered an explanation.

The terminus for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express rail link will take up 8 hectares, or one-fifth of land within the cultural district, including one site previously used as a drive-in cinema and exhibition area, as a temporary works area.

Building work will occupy the sites until between 2013 and 2015, when the first phase of the arts hub is expected to start operating.

"We cannot give our blessing to your plan and pre-empt the West Kowloon Cultural District without knowing what the arts hub is doing," said Vincent Ng Wing-shun, chairman of the Harbourfront Enhancement Committee's subcommittee on harbour plan review. "You are taking away the opportunity to beautify the harbourfront."

Mr Ng also wondered whether the MTR Corp would compensate by beautifying other waterfront sites.

Another committee member, Paul Zimmerman, said he was amazed the MTR Corp had taken up a lot of land in Kennedy Town and Wan Chai and wondered whether it had minimised the space required.

Tang Pak-hung, the MTR Corp's project liaison manager, said the "gigantic" terminus would need the seafront sites so five berths could be built for vessels to remove 4.83 million cubic metres of excavated materials for disposal, and for building two 25-metre-high plants to make concrete for the terminus.

專家倡高鐵提速 穗港半小時可達
28 February 2009
文匯報

【本報珠三角新聞中心記者唐苗苗廣州27日電】《珠三角改革發展規劃綱要》提出，要將粵港澳建成具全球競爭力的大都市圈。有專家認為，三地要融合，跨境交通設施的建設尤為重要，因此建議正籌劃興建的廣深港高鐵香港段的時速，提高至350公里，屆時穗港之間半小時即可到達，真正實現「高速」。據悉，香港工聯會將於下周一向特區政府提交這項建議。

工聯會物流交通委員會顧問、廣東研究珠三角港澳區域交通的專家鄭天祥透露，工聯會將於下周一攜粵港兩地專家向特區政府提交關於香港物流交通發展的建議，包括建議將廣深港高鐵香港段的設計時速，由現時的200公里提高至350公里，及修建屯門至珠海的輕軌，作為港珠澳大橋的補充，來應對兩地迅猛增加的跨境客流。

鄭天祥說，目前廣深港高鐵香港段的設計時速是200公里，建好後從廣州到香港需時48分鐘，雖然已是香港最高速的鐵路，但已遠遠落後於內地某些地區的高鐵，如奧運前開通運營的京津城際鐵路，以及日前開工的滬杭高鐵，設計時速都已達到350公里，更無法與世界發達地區的基建相比。

港段時速改350公里

鄭天祥說，高鐵如果繼續按200公里的時速進行建設，與現時廣深鐵路的速度一樣，「高速」名不符實。他建議，趁現時高鐵廣深段還未鋪地軌，香港段還未開工建設，兩地應盡快研究修改方案，將高鐵時速提至350公里，這樣穗港之間半小時即可到達，真正實現「高速」。

修建屯門至珠海輕軌

此外，鄭天祥還建議，香港應在屯門修建輕軌，經內伶仃島、淇澳島連接珠海，形成「A」字形框架連接珠三角西岸。鄭天祥說，香港回歸以來，粵港兩地跨境客流迅猛增長，從1997年的1億人次增長到2007年的2億人次，翻了一番。再加上現時《綱要》鼓勵兩地融合，人員往來粵港的限制正逐步放寬，以後將實現非粵籍居民亦可經廣東往香港，料2020年粵港跨境客流將達到4億人次。如果修建連接屯門與珠海的輕軌，屯門段與西鐵相接，香港有了過境鐵路，可提前為客流猛增做好準備。

城市群帶動一體化
4月1日 星期三 05:10

【明報專訊】香港回歸12 年，與中國大陸的地區聯繫愈趨頻繁，加上大型基建如港珠澳大橋 、廣深港高鐵進一步落實興建，泛珠三角 地區更趨向一體化。最近國務院更原則上通過了把長三角城市群的中心城市-上海 -發展成另一個金融中心，與香港並駕齊驅，這都反映了香港已納入中國城市群發展的藍圖中，勢將和其他城市配合發展。

珠江三角洲

人口﹕

據深圳 市政府網站資料顯示，目前深圳總人口超過1200萬，其中深圳戶籍人口210多萬，常住人口800多萬，而整個珠三角則接近5000萬。香港政府統計處 2008年資料顯示，約21萬於內地工作的港人中，42.3%為專業及輔助專業人員

經濟概况﹕

2008年珠三角人均GDP達62,644元（人民幣，下同）。07年珠三角地區生產總值2.5萬億元，佔全國比重為10.2%

發展背景﹕

•中國改革開放以前，珠三角一帶主要是農地和小村落。1985年以後，經濟改革，大量資金湧入。工資低廉，政策配合，珠三角吸納了來自香港的商人設廠，使該地成為製造業的基地

•03 年「9+2 泛珠三角區域合作」展開，把珠江三角洲進一步擴大至泛珠三角，抱括香港和澳門

•03年中國政府及香港政府簽訂《內地與香港建立關於更緊密經貿關係的安排》（CEPA ），合資格的港資或外資企業及個體戶，可獲優先進入內地市場，甚至獲得寬減關稅的優惠待遇。03年「9+2泛珠三角區域合作」展開，加強了珠三角地區的合作

近年基建﹕

•港珠澳大橋﹕主體部分總長36公里，連接香港、廣東省珠海市和澳門，由香港開車至珠海及澳門，將從4至5小時縮短到約30分鐘，預計09年動工

•港深機鐵﹕乃連接香港和深圳機場的高速鐵路，直接貫通廣州新火車站，由前海的候機樓前往兩地機場，分別只需10分鐘，來往兩地機場，亦只需17 分鐘。工程可望於09年拍板

•廣深港高鐵﹕連接香港西九龍總站、深圳福田、龍華和東莞虎門，直達新廣州站，全程只需48分鐘，較現時的行車時間縮短一半，希望在2014 年通車

經濟模式﹕

珠三角由一個農業為主的地區轉變為一個重要的國際製造業平台。珠三角是電子製品、電器產品、電子零件、鐘表、玩具、衣服、紡織、塑膠製品及其他產品的國際領導重鎮

旅遊熱點﹕

中山石岐、廣州市番禺區長隆水上樂園、珠海御溫泉、海南西樵山等

未來發展方向﹕

•《珠江三角洲地區改革發展規劃綱要》（2008-2020）﹕政務司 長唐英年 指出，綱要中經常出現的關鍵詞是﹕分工合作、共同發展、優勢互補、錯位發展，並指應從有利於全局、配合國家發展戰略的角度去看

•廣佛同城﹕廣州、佛山於09年3月簽署《廣佛同城化建設合作框架協議》，兩地將設立聯席會議、專責小組等合作機制，就環保、產業、規劃、交通基建4個領域簽署具體合作方案

長江三角洲

人口﹕

據國家統計局資料顯示，07年上海市人口達1858萬。長江三角洲覆蓋人口佔全國的11％，約1.3億人

經濟概况﹕

長三角人均GDP由1978年的797元提高到2007年的55,930元。08年16個城市中，居民人均可支配收入有12個城市超過20,000元，平均收入達到22,110元。長三角16城市實現地區生產總值達到4.7萬億元，佔全國比重為18.8%

發展背景﹕

1997年長江三角洲城市經濟協調會正式成立，每兩年舉行一次正式會議。08年，國務院頒發《國務院關於進一步推進長江三角洲地區改革開放和經濟社會發展的指導意見》，正式確立長三角為江蘇省、浙江省和上海市兩省一市全境，蘇北和浙西南被納入長三角

經濟模式﹕

長三角集中了近半數的全國經濟百強縣，聚集着近100個年工業產值超過100億元的產業園區。上海更是國際經濟、金融、貿易和航運中心之一。長三角目前擁有多家金融類上市公司，涵蓋銀行、證券、信託、保險等領域

近年基建﹕

•合寧鐵路08年4月18日正式開通，合肥至南京間運行時間最短59分鐘，合肥至上海最快約3小時

•滬寧城際鐵路起自上海，經崑山、蘇州、無錫、常州、丹陽、鎮江至南京，正線全長300公里，於08年7月1日開工建設

•寧安城際鐵路起自江蘇南京，經安徽省馬鞍山、蕪湖、銅陵、池州，跨長江後進入安慶，全長達258公里

•崇啟大橋連接上海崇明與江蘇啟東，位於長江入海口，2012年全線通車後，啟東到上海只需一個多小時

旅遊熱點﹕

無錫太湖 、上海黃浦江、蘇州園林、杭州西湖、南京中山陵等

未來發展方向﹕

•《長江三角洲地區道路運輸一體化規劃綱要》﹕為道路旅客運輸、道路貨物運輸、汽車維修保障3個方面；到2020年建立起工業園區、貨物集散中心、物流基地（中心）、保稅區（中心）、貨運市場與內河港、鐵路集裝箱（貨櫃箱）中心站、海港互動的集裝箱運輸體系

•「工業轉型升級321」﹕長三角工業朝「321」方向發展。「3」就是「促新、提優、汰劣」；「2」是突出兩大重點，即發展生產性服務業、積極推進企業整合重組；「1」則指構建一個佈局科學、結構優化、特色鮮明的現代工業產業體系

京津冀

人口﹕

據國家統計局資料顯示，07年北京 市、天津 市及河北省（冀）人口超過9500萬

經濟概况﹕

截至2007年底，京津冀地區的經濟總量達到2.5萬億元，佔全國經濟總量的10.2%，而環渤海地區生產總值3.2萬億元，佔全國比重為13%

發展背景﹕

北京是中國的政治文化中心 ，北京和天津擁有全國數一數二的經濟技術開發區，河北則是著名旅遊區。加上經濟網絡進一步發展至山東半島城市群，成為環渤海經濟圈。根據《環渤海區域經濟發展報告（2008）》，藍皮書指出，繼20世紀80年代的珠三角、90年代的長三角之後，環渤海地區正在成為中國經濟的第三個崛起的經濟圈

經濟模式﹕

京津冀城市群是中國重化工業、裝備製造業和高新技術產業基地

近年基建﹕

•高速公路﹕京包高速（六環—德勝口）、西六環（良鄉—寨口）、機場南線、京津第二通道、京承三期和京平高速6條高速公路

•城際客運鐵路﹕京津、京石、京秦、津唐和津保城際鐵路，比駕車走高速公路要省一半時間

旅遊熱點﹕

北京故宮、長城、頤和園 ；河北承德避暑山莊

未來發展方向﹕

根據《北京市「十一五 」時期基礎設施發展規劃》，基本形成以北京、天津為核心，方圓500公里區域內重要城市間的陸路「3小時交通圈」，朝向「立足天津」、「依託北京」、「服務環渤海」、「輻射 『三北』」，面向東北亞發展

文﹕羅樂敏

高鐵建車廠 村民拒拆遷
4月12日 星期日 06:30

(星島日報報道)十大基建之一、耗資約四百五十億元的廣深港高速鐵路香港段，早前選定於石崗菜園村附近興建鐵路車廠及緊急救援站。政府要求該村居民在明年十一月前遷出，受影響約有五十戶共五百多人。村民批評政府事前沒有諮詢，且在刊憲後馬上派人在村內張貼清拆令，沒有給予他們選擇的餘地。他們稱由於自己不是原居民，因此遭到「欺負」，堅持「不遷、不拆」，要求政府重新選址及重新諮詢。

昨日路政署官員聯同港鐵職員，出席在石崗菜站舉行的答問大會，與菜園村居民交流，立法會 議員李卓人 及何秀蘭 亦有出席。與會村民表示，菜園村是他們落地生根的地方，不少更是紮根逾半世紀的老人家，若遷往公屋或其他地方生活，恐怕未能適應。李卓人指政府沒有提出過一個令村民相信可以在遷址後，維持原有生活方式的方案，他會要求立法會盡快召開公聽會討論事件。

有關注團體代表質疑，菜園村附近有多個已空置多時的廠房及空地，為何政府偏選在該村建車廠。他們早前曾提出三個替代方案，但均被政府否決。何秀蘭則表示，政府有必要交代選址的詳細原因，並應公開所有相關資料。

港鐵高級統籌工程師李永孝表示，選址主要考慮幾個因素，包括馬路接駁、地理環境及方便救援部隊進入隧道等，並以對社區影響最少為原則，最後得出結論為目前的方案最可行。他原先準備解釋由關注團體提出的三個替代方案為何行不通，但因被指在地圖上劃錯替代方案的地點，引起村民起哄而被逼中斷發言。

路政署副署長何偉富表示，高鐵走綫限制很大，但路政署會繼續諮詢，聆聽及考慮各方面的建議，作出更專業的評估，務求達到雙贏的方案。他指出政府已與數戶住在菜園村邊緣地區的居民達成協議，故會改動圖則繞過他們的住處，又強調在清拆方案中，沒有考慮當中對象是否原居民。

Airport rail link to cost 52 billion yuan
7 May 2009
South China Morning Post

An intercity rail link connecting Hong Kong and Shenzhen airports is expected to cost nearly 52 billion yuan (HK$59 billion) to shorten the travelling time from an hour to 24 minutes, Shenzhen authorities said yesterday.

Shenzhen officials said in a study expected to be given to Hong Kong next month that the rail link was "feasible and would benefit the two neighbouring cities as part of efforts to cement the integration of them".

The proposed 41km line would have four stops - both airports, Hung Shui Kiu in Yuen Long and Qianhai in Shekou, Shenzhen - the feasibility study said.

It said checkpoints would be provided for cross-border travellers, and passengers could check in their luggage before boarding the train.

Hong Kong is expected to pay 41 billion yuan, 80 per cent of the total construction fees, for the 16km line in its jurisdiction, while Shenzhen will pay about 10 billion yuan for about 25km. Trains would run every three minutes, carrying 35,000 passengers an hour, said Li Xiaoyi , vice-director of the Shenzhen Rail Transit Construction Headquarters Office.

Shenzhen authorities said the planned intercity railway could provide a link between Hong Kong airport's frequent international flights and Shenzhen airport's domestic flights.

Shenzhen launched a feasibility study on airport rail links at the end of 2007, and its planning bureau earlier proposed that the railway should be 30km long and cut travelling time between the two cities to 17 minutes.

Shenzhen Mayor Xu Zongheng said earlier that construction of the line would not start until 2011.

高鐵全速建 動用9鑽挖機創紀錄
740 words
28 May 2009
香港經濟日報

為將香港變成珠三角「一小時生活圈」及免被邊緣化，港府正全速興建廣深港高速鐵路香港段（下稱高鐵），但工程落後於內地路段，為配合中央加快進度，港府將動用最多約15億元、破天荒用9部大型鑽挖機，挖掘約20公里長的行車隧道，相信可創造世界紀錄，成為動用最多鑽挖機興建的鐵路。

港府前日公布，西港島線造價大幅升逾7成至約154億元，政府注資額達83%，主要原因是全球推動基建抗海嘯，令物料及人力成本增加之餘，通脹亦使工程費大升。

廣深港高鐵香港段 造價料630億

據悉由港府全資興建的高鐵，亦因上述問題令造價大升，或由原來估計約395億元增至約630億元，升幅達6成。鐵路由港鐵（00066）負責興建及營運，預計今年底動工、2014至2015年通車。

高鐵香港段全長約26公里，大部分屬地底行車隧道，由尖沙咀出發途經大角咀、大帽山，再經米埔前往內地，日後由西九直達廣州，只需約48分鐘；但內地段於2011至2012年陸續通車，即香港進度落後內地2至3年。

鐵路行車隧道除用鑽挖機外，位於大帽山一段的隧道會以爆破方式興建，部分路段亦會使用明挖隨填的方式建造，車廠及緊急救援站則位於石崗菜園村一帶。

據可靠消息透露，港府將配合中央全速及加快高鐵香港段的建設，會破天荒動用9部大型鑽挖機興建高鐵的行車隧道，希望施工時間縮短。

縮施工時間配合中央 盼5年後通車

綜合消息透露，9部鑽挖機由承建商供應，一般向德國及法國公司購買或租用，但多數會是購買，每部平均價約為1.5億元，預料需斥資共約14億至15億元。現時計劃2010年底至2011年初開始鑽挖，若情況順利，每部每月可鑽挖約200米，預計2013年完成鑽挖工程，盼2014至2015年通車。

消息又指鐵路全長約26公里、來回即52公里，但需使用鑽挖機的挖掘隧道約有20公里長，高峰期會用7至8部同時鑽挖，需使用路段主要為市區、八鄉及米埔。廣深港高鐵屬全球第4長鐵路隧道，消息人士強調，動用9部鑽挖機主要希望縮短施工時間，將落成時間和內地的距離減少。

高鐵網絡大動脈 拉動內需新戰略; 港成「網中人」 搭經濟順風車
18 May 2009
香港經濟日報

　　預計於今年底動工的廣深港高速鐵路香港段，不僅使香港搭上國家高速鐵路戰略的順風車，更重要的是，將使香港進入國家高速鐵路網絡，不至被「隔離」。

　　去年8月，中國第一條自主興建的京津城際高速鐵路通車，拉開了中國高鐵時代的序幕。為了應對金融危機，鐵路建設更成為拉動內需重中之重。事實上，在今明兩年，中央已批出的鐵路投資達2萬億（人民幣），而且未來還會增加。去年底國務院定下的規劃，到2020年，中國的鐵路里程達12萬公里以上，將成為中國交通的大動脈。

　　鐵道部最新統計顯示，今年首四月，鐵路建設完成投資總額1,032.3億元（人民幣，下同），較去年同期增170.5%，創歷史同期最高水平。鐵路行業已成為擴內需保增長的火車頭。

　　中共中央政策研究室副主任鄭新立指出，10年前亞洲金融危機，內地擴大內需抓住了機遇，建成了高速公路網，為過去幾年經濟高速發展奠定基礎；此次全球金融海嘯為鐵道建設提供機遇，加快中國鐵道網的建設，屆時將改善目前春運一票難求的局面。

年內創600萬職 GDP提高1.5%

　　以鐵路建設拉動內需，效果是顯而易見的。據專家分析，鐵路不同於其他純粹的基礎設施投資，無論是建設之中還是日後運營，可衍生出更大量的經濟增長機會。按照2009年鐵路完成工程投資6,000億元的安排，根據定額水平測算，可以創造600萬個就業崗位，消費鋼材2,000萬噸（含鋼軌）、水泥1.2億噸，可以直接帶來全國GDP增幅提高1.5%的拉動效應。

海嘯加速建設 解決運輸樽頸

　　事實上，建設高速鐵路除了拉動經濟外，也是國家未來交通發展的重點。改革開放後，中國鐵路基礎設施與世界先進水平有較大差距，與經濟增長和客貨運輸需求相比仍滯後，總體上的運載能力不足仍是長期制約經濟發展的樽頸。目前，美國的鐵路里數是27萬公里，但中國只有7萬多公里。中國人口眾多、內陸深廣，解決大規模人口流動問題，最安全、最快捷、最經濟、最環保、最可靠的交通方式是高速鐵路。

　　國家信息中心宏觀經濟室副主任牛○指，鐵路發展遠遠滯後於經濟發展，公路無法撑起運輸，造成經濟運行中出現樽頸，加上區域分割、市場封鎖，也造成不少重型卡車嚴重超載壓壞高速公路的現象。在運力緊張下，石油、煤炭、糧食等部門，總要跑鐵道部門希望給予方便，解決運輸問題。

　　牛○指此次金融危機將大力加速鐵路網的建設，鐵路在十一五和十二五期間，將得到非常顯著的發展。未來鐵路、高速公路、水路等各種運輸將得到進一步的互補。

四縱四橫高鐵 貫穿三頭馬車

　　根據新調整的《中國鐵路中長期發展規劃》，到2020年，為滿足快速增長的旅客運輸需求，建立省會城市及大中城市間的快速客運通道，規劃四縱四橫鐵路快速客運通道，以及三個城際快速客運系統。建設快速客運專線1.6萬公里以上。

　　未來中國經濟將愈來愈向各大城市區聚集，環渤海地區、長三角、珠三角這三大城市群，將成為中國具有巨大影響力的經濟區。建設高鐵網絡，不但能使這些城市群加快融合，更能令這「三頭馬車」的能量輻射至其他地區，全面改變中國經濟的運作模式與版圖。

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高速鐵路 兩大技術

　　內地目前高速鐵路技術主要有兩種模式：高速輪軌技術及磁懸浮技術。

　　高速輪軌透過直線化、軌距標準化等升級，使列車營運速度達到每小時200或250公里以上的鐵路技術。磁懸浮則是靠磁的吸力和排斥力來推動列車，行走時不需接觸地面，最高速度可以達每小時500公里以上。

　　高速輪軌造價較低，與現有鐵路網絡可以兼容，因此應用面更廣。中國在高速輪軌技術上亦比較成熟，去年通車的京津城際鐵路，時速已超過350公里。磁懸浮列車有速度快、耗能低、噪音小等優點，但造價比高速輪軌高出兩倍以上。

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中國鐵路規劃

　　根據去年國務院公布的《中國中長期鐵路網規劃》，到2020年，為滿足快速增長的旅客運輸需求，建立省會城市，及大中城市間的快速客運通道，規劃「四縱四橫」鐵路快速客運通道，以及三個城際快速客運系統。建設客運專線1.6萬公里以上，客車速度達到每小時200公里或以上。

AECOM Joint Venture Wins US$82-Million Design Contract for Hong Kong High-Speed Rail Terminus
Design-services project is the world’s largest underground facility of its kind
17 June 2009
Business Wire

LOS ANGELES - (BUSINESS WIRE) - AECOM Technology Corporation (NYSE: ACM), a leading provider of professional technical and management support services for government and commercial clients around the world, announced today that a joint venture of which it is a part has been awarded a design-services contract worth US$82 million for the Mass Transit Railway Corporation Limited’s Hong Kong High-Speed Rail Terminus project, which will connect to the high-speed rail network in Mainland China.

The multi-level terminus, which will be the largest underground facility of its kind, will have a footprint of more than 25 acres with a topside commercial development north of the proposed West Kowloon Cultural District – between the existing Airport Railway Kowloon Station and the West Rail Austin Station.

“AECOM is proud to play a key role in the design of this important high-speed rail infrastructure project," said John M. Dionisio, AECOM president and chief executive officer. “The terminus will provide the strategic linkage from Hong Kong to the comprehensive high-speed rail network in Mainland China.”

Being the southernmost terminus of China’s high-speed railway network, the facility will be developed as a gateway to Mainland China, with distinctive architectural and landmark features, a user-friendly layout, and convenient interchange facilities with the urban metro network in Hong Kong.

The total project cost is estimated at US$2 billion. AECOM’s revenue from this project is expected to be approximately US$38 million. Completion is scheduled for 2015.

About AECOM

AECOM (NYSE: ACM) is a global provider of professional technical and management support services to a broad range of markets, including transportation, facilities, environmental and energy. With more than 43,000 employees around the world, AECOM is a leader in all of the key markets that it serves. AECOM provides a blend of global reach, local knowledge, innovation, and technical excellence in delivering solutions that enhance and sustain the world's built, natural and social environments. A Fortune 500 company, AECOM serves clients in more than 100 countries and had revenue of $5.9 billion during the 12-month period ended March 31, 2009. More information on AECOM and its services can be found at www.aecom.com.

Forward-Looking Statements: All statements in this press release other than statements of historical fact are "forward-looking statements" for purposes of federal and state securities laws, including any statements of plans for future operations or expected revenue. Actual results could differ materially from those projected or assumed in any of our forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our forward-looking statements are set forth in our annual report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2009, and our other reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. AECOM does not intend, and undertakes no obligation, to update any forward-looking statement.

NR 09-0604

AECOM Technology Corporation Paul Gennaro, 212-973-3167 SVP & Chief Communications Officer paul.gennaro@aecom.com

Village fights rail line that will wipe it out
28 June 2009
South China Morning Post

Since December, members of the Ko family, who live in Shek Kong, Choi Yuen Tsuen, have been fighting to save their home and farmland.

The HK$39.5 billion cross-border express rail link between Guangzhou and Hong Kong will run right through it if government planners have their way.

But by the time the second round of consultation on the railway ends tomorrow, villagers will have collected about 10,000 signatures opposing plans for the railway.

Ko Hin, 81, who has lived in Shek Kong for 50 years, used to spend much of his time planting flowers and playing with his grandchildren, but in the past few months he has been working with neighbours trying to stop ground investigation work in the village.

Mr Ko's daughter, Ko Chun-heung, 47, said she has considered giving up her sales business, as it left her too busy to contact government departments and work with the local action group. Her niece, Chimmy Chan Hoi-shan, 31, said she has spent most of her free time studying alternative options for the railway.

Even Ko Nga-fong, 10, helped while her school was closed by buying snacks for older family members who were collecting signatures.

The government started consulting district councils, the Heung Yee Kuk and relevant rural committees about the railway in May last year.

The proposed alignment of the express rail link was gazetted last December. Some villagers, including Mr Ko, had no idea they would be affected by the railway until the outer wall of his house was marked with white paint by a government official that month.

"This land raised my six children. I don't want to move to other housing," said Mr Ko, who bought the land 50 years ago. "I don't want to pay rent, I don't know how to take a lift and I don't know how to get around outside this village."

Yau Kai-wun, 76, has also lived in the village for more than 50 years.

"The government has not told me anything about compensation," he said. "I have no idea what is going on. I really don't want to move, I don't know how to use a lift. I don't want to move to somewhere I don't know the name of my neighbour."

The village of about 500 people came to prominence after a standoff with officials from the Lands Department and MTR Corporation when staff wanted to enter the village to conduct ground investigation work.

Under the current proposal, Choi Yuen Tsuen will make way for a rescue station and railway sidings.

The Choi Yuen Tsuen Concern Group, convened by Ms Ko, put forward alternative proposals, such as using open space, car parks or abandoned building sites around the village, or moving the project to the nearby Shek Kong Barracks.

"There are few households living in our area; why must the rescue station be located at our village?" Ms Ko said.

But the government said alternative plans would affect more households, and dismissed the possibility that the People's Liberation Army garrison would allow its barracks site to be switched to non-military use.

Ms Ko and Ms Chan are not convinced. However, not all villagers are as determined as Mr Yau and the Ko family. Gurung Tara Bahader, 21, a Nepali living in the village with his parents, is waiting for other options.

"If we are going to be moved, it will be okay because we are only renting the house," he said. I support the villagers, as they are fighting for their rights, but I also understand the government wants the land."

Government officials are expected to meet villagers today. Construction is scheduled to start this year.

Green groups join battle to save village threatened by rail link
29 June 2009
South China Morning Post

Four green organisations are backing a group of villagers fighting to avoid losing their homes to make way for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link.

Connecting the link to the West Rail Line, instead, could save a village and taxpayers' money, the groups - Green Sense, Greenpeace, Greeners Action and Friends of the Earth - said in a joint statement yesterday.

The border express rail, which would shorten travel times between Hong Kong and Guangzhou, would cost an estimated HK$39.5 billion and would have no stops between Shenzhen's Futian station and its terminus at West Kowloon. Construction will begin this year and the line is due to begin operating in 2015.

The groups demanded the government end the railway at Kam Sheung Road MTR station and ensure more public consultation for the project. There should also be an independent environmental impact assessment, they said.

Tsoi Yuen Tsuen, a village that will be demolished if the plan goes ahead, is home to 50 families. Most of them are farmers whose ancestors have lived there for generations. They have collected 30,000 signatures from people who oppose the village's destruction. Village native Fung Wu-tak said she had grown vegetables and flowers to support her children. "I'm leading a green life. Why does the government deprive me of my way of living?"

Legislator Cyd Ho Sau-lan said it would be difficult for the villagers to adapt to city life. "If the government moves them to 40-storey public housing, it would be a totally different lifestyle for them."

Lawmaker Leung Yiu-chung said: "The express rail is not for Hongkongers {hellip} it aims to bring more mainlanders to the city to boost the economy, but it neglects how much citizens have paid for it." Connecting to the West Rail would benefit the New Territories, he said.

However, the Transport and Housing Bureau has said the same corridor could not be used for both the West Rail Line and the express rail line. The Kowloon Southern Link - which will connect West Rail's Nam Cheong station to East Rail's East Tsim Sha Tsui station - was expected to increase demand for the West Rail, a spokeswoman said.

The express cross-border line would also run too slowly if it stopped at a West Rail terminal, the spokeswoman said. The government would cater to the needs of the villagers and provide different compensation packages, she said, though it would be difficult to offer them farmland.

廣深港鐵路5年內開通
7 May 2009
文匯報

深圳軌道規劃專家6日在接受香港傳媒採訪團訪問時透露，廣深港鐵路客運專線福田站將於2012年下半年建成，目前預計深圳北站至廣州段將於2010年11月亞運會前開通，而香港段則計劃2014年建成。

廣深港客運專線起點位於新廣州東站，途經東莞和深圳，終點為香港西九龍站，是廣東規劃中的「四橫四縱」鐵路快速網的重要組成部分，也是珠三角城際軌道交通網的重要組成部分，成為連接珠三角最具活力的廣州、東莞、深圳、香港等城市最快速、便捷的客運通道。

去年8月正式開工的廣深港鐵路客運專線福田站，將建成為全國最大的地下火車站。據深圳軌道辦副主任李筱毅介紹，廣深港福田站是中國第一座位於城市中心區的地下火車站，包含地下三層。其中，地下一層為地鐵和廣深港客運專線換乘客流轉換層；地下二層為站廳層；地下三層為站台層。據悉，福田火車站共設8線4站台，其中兩個短站台四股道為廣州方向客流服務，兩個長站台四股道為香港方向客流服務，總造價約39.5億。

有深圳軌道規劃專家建議，廣深港福田火車站應在香港側設立「一地兩檢」口岸。專家表示，廣深港鐵路客運專線沿途涉及眾多內地城市，在每個上車城市都設立口岸本身並不現實，而如果在深圳、香港兩地設立兩檢口岸，對旅客來說也較麻煩，最便捷的方式，還是在香港方設立「一地兩檢」模式的口岸。

據透露，該設想得到了香港規劃專家的認可，目前港府已在西九龍片區預留了近2萬平方米的土地。但是否最終採取「一地兩檢」，仍需各方協商決定。

Workers queue for a job with more bang
29 June 2009
South China Morning Post

Workers are lining up to join the city's first formal course on the use of explosives in construction, launched to meet demand for such skills for big projects due to start soon.

The Construction Industry Council, which is running the course, expects 300 shot firers will be needed over the next two years.

There are only 58 registered shot firers in the city and most are in their 50s or 60s.

Projects that will require explosives skills include the MTR's Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express rail link, West Island line and South Island line.

The council aims to run at least four classes a year, each with 20 students. The first class started last month and there are 110 people on the waiting list.

Previously shot firers - who control the explosives needed for works such as tunnels and demolitions - were trained on the job.

Construction Industry Council training director Charles Wong Doon-yee said that under that system it could take up to 18 months to gain a licence from the Commissioner of Mines.

Earning about HK$25,000 a month, shot firers decide the quantity of explosives required, insert detonators and charges into holes, and ensure safety in blasting areas.

Construction Site Workers General Union secretary Cheung Tak-hing said the industry hoped the course could help improve safety standards for people working in what is a dangerous job.

"We have seen some veteran shot firers with missing fingers, which is very sad," Mr Cheung said.

群橋建設的典範 --十四局集團廣深港鐵路客運專線群橋科技攻關紀實
13 June 2009
中國鐵道建築報

時速350公里的廣深港鐵路客運專線，是我國乃至世界鐵路建設的標誌性工程。素有建築勁旅之稱的十四局集團，承擔廣深港鐵路客運專線ZH-標段建設任務。

該標段位於廣州番禺區和南沙區，跨越屏山涌水道、南山峽水道、沙灣水道、騮崗水道等9個通航水道和105國道、京珠高速公路等13處既有公路及10公里魚塘，沿線均為軟質地基。其中紫泥、沙灣水道各500米寬，水深13米，為國家一級通航水道。

特殊的地理，採用群橋跨越。在全長31.4公里的ZH-標段建設中，橋樑就佔29.42公里，橋橋相連，是目前國內已開工的鐵路客運專線中橋樑結構類型最集中、最複雜的標段之一, 更是廣深港鐵路客運專線施工難度最大的標段，科技含量極高。

就橋樑類別而言，有900噸預製箱梁、支架現澆單線和雙線梁、移動滑模現澆梁、連續剛構梁、懸臂澆築連續梁等。其中主跨168米的連續剛構梁、 160米跨度的懸臂澆築連續梁、112米的提籃拱，為我國350公里鐵路客運專線三項全國之最。沙灣水道特大橋跨騮崗水道（76米+160米+76米）連續梁拱施工技術列入鐵道部科技開發項目。

地質和橋樑建設的特殊性，ZH-標段被稱為橋樑工程的“博物館”，集橋樑施工技術之大成。群橋多次跨越淺海、河流、魚塘等。深水基礎多、且多為嵌岩樁、深水硬岩低樁承台、大體積混凝土承台、52米高的墩柱、168米大跨等。基坑開挖深度大，承台埋入河床弱風化岩層等，施工難度極大。僅沙灣特大橋就有400多個橋墩、35米空心高墩、超大體積承台一個3000多立方。

人稱“智多星”的十四局集團廣深港鐵路客運專線項目經理周長進面對現實，心裡十分明白，特殊的地質、特殊的工程，需要採取特殊的措施。

科學技術是第一生產力。十四局集團廣深港鐵路客運專線項目指揮部上下領導和工程技術人員組成的優秀科技攻關團隊，依靠科技創新攻難克險，確保群橋建設高精尖難工程任務的完成。施工中廣泛應用新技術、新工藝、新材料。

為保證科技先行和技術攻關, 項目部投入2億多元，購置了廣深港鐵路客運專線全線最齊全最好的施工儀器設備，成立現場科技攻關領導機構和活動小組，開展一系列科技攻關活動。並與鐵道第二、第四設計院、中南大學、華南理工大學等聯合進行科技攻關，反復論證，優化施工方案，進行科技創新、攻關。建立一支高素質的專業化施工隊伍進行專業化施工，攻堅制勝。

沙灣特大橋橫跨紫坭、沙灣兩條深水河道，水面寬各500米、水深13米，且都是廣州融貫珠江的主航道。每天數百艘船舶穿梭來往，水段潮差較大，潮差平均2.4米，深水處暗潮湍急，地質變化大，不確定自然因素很多。大橋6個主墩全在深水中，承台嵌入河床岩層中，且河床覆蓋較淺, 在深水中建橋，施工處於高風險環境中。按常規邊開挖邊下沉井的做法在此難以實施，他們請來了集團公司總工程師劉運平、副總工程師劉宏文等組成的專家組，經過反復論證, 決定採取先挖基坑後下鋼圍堰、水下大爆破及GPS雷達測量控制技術、配合8立方米大型水下抓斗船的精確開挖找平基床等方案，奠定了可靠的技術基礎。投資 2000多萬元專門購置了雷達測控設備。施工中實施樁基鋼平臺、雙薄壁鋼圍堰、超深鋼板樁圍堰、鋼護筒等施工。對橋墩處於礁石上的，使用爆破船進行水下爆破開挖，施工取得成功, 也為深水橋墩承台施工積累了成功經驗。

屏山涌特大橋的6處懸灌梁施工和移動模架施工設計的技術要求之高, 施工程序之複雜是過去沒有碰到過的。 為此, 他們多次召開技術分析會、科技座談會和現場諸葛亮會, 結合施工實際吃透圖紙,，優化方案, 先後拿出4個預選方案，好中選優。在懸灌梁施工中投入掛籃6套，按兩個週期6處懸灌施工, 移動模架投入6套， 成為廣深港全線第一家澆注箱梁的單位。

高墩施工，整體定做模板，保證結構尺寸，拼裝精度。對軟基承台施工，採用基底攪拌樁整體加固，防止結構物沉降。在懸灌施工中，對掛籃和模板進行特殊改裝。對拱的施工，進行豎向轉體對接施工工藝。

科學技術轉化為強大生產力，十四局集團完成了番禺橋樑廠“軟土地基客運專線整孔箱梁預製場建設方案的設計與施工”、沙灣特大橋“水中硬岩層中超大低樁承台輕型雙壁鋼圍堰施工技術”，生產的900噸普通預製箱梁片片是精品，完成科技開發立項申請14項，取得第一個懸灌掛籃施工，第一片900噸預製箱梁成功架設等全線六個第一。（石肆;仁軒）

I was told by my friend that the new terminus in Guangzhou is quite far away from the downtown area, and since they already have high speed rail service between the downtown of Guangzhou and Shenzhen, I doubt there would be sufficient demand to sustain the new line.

The HSR terminus in GZ is purposely located outside GZ center to decentralize the congested old GZ, where also doesn't have land for the HSR track and terminus.
This will bring new opportunities to the new area.

廣 深 港 高 鐵 對 民 居 的 影 響
16/03/2009
http://www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/tv/pentaprismII/20090316.html

http://www.rthk.org.hk/homepics/images/tv_2p01.gif

左 右 紅 藍 綠
監製 Executive Producer： 謝 志 峰

政 治 光 譜 從 左 至 右 ， 有 紅 ， 有 藍 ， 有 綠 ， 恰 巧 是 電 視 的 三 原 色 。 「 左 右 紅 藍 綠 」 請來 嘉 賓 賢 達 、 權 力 機 構 代 表 為 觀 眾 評 論 世 界 大 事 、 分 析 香 港 得 失 、 述 評 方 針 政 策 ，甚 或 抒 發 個 人 感 受 。 節 目 輔 以 視 像 資 料 片 段 ， 使 議 題 更 易 掌 握 。

本 節 目 逢 星 期 一 至 五 下 午 一 時 二 十 分 無 線 電 視 翡 翠 台 播 映 及 下 午 五 時 四 十 分 亞 洲 電 視 本 港 台

MTR's border train fares seen by many as unreasonably high
27 May 2009
South China Morning Post

Most residents find the fares for MTR train services to the border unreasonable, a survey has found.

The train was the most popular mode of transport for Hongkongers crossing the border, the Chinese University survey showed. Some 51.4 per cent of respondents said the fares were "unreasonable" and 8.8 per cent said they were "very unreasonable". Thirty-three per cent found the fares "reasonable".

Chinese University surveyed 507 residents, aged 18 or above, on cross-border infrastructure between Hong Kong and Shenzhen in February.

The poll found more than 90 per cent visited Shenzhen at least once a year, while 20.4 per cent visited at least once a month. About 2.6 per cent went to the city almost daily.

Most of the travellers - 77.1 per cent - rode the train.

The cross-border coach was the second-most popular, with 22.2 per cent using it.

Asked to choose their preferred measures for improving cross-border infrastructure, 43.8 per cent of respondents wanted more 24-hour crossings, while 33.1 per cent preferred to have the checkpoints either moved closer together or merged.

The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed railway, which is due to come into service in 2015, was the top cross-border infrastructure project for 44.8 per cent of respondents. That was followed by a rail link between the MTR West Rail and Lok Ma Chau Spur Line - the choice of 39.4 per cent.

Some 19 per cent selected the railway line linking the Hong Kong and Shenzhen airports. Shenzhen Mayor Xu Zongheng said earlier that construction of the line would not start until 2011.

More than 53 per cent believed that the development of cross-border infrastructure would affect Hong Kong positively, but 18.3 per cent felt it would have a negative impact. Another 18.1 per cent said it would have no impact.

Fares announced for MTR's Southern Link
11 July 2009
China Daily - Hong Kong Edition

HONG KONG: The MTR Corporation's new Southern Link is scheduled to open at a still to be named date during the third quarter. The MTR said on Friday the fare from Tuen Mun to Austin Road in Kowloon's Jordan will be HK$15.8.

"The final tests on operation are now afoot. Once they are completed we will apply to the related government authorities for the official license to open Southern Link, around the third quarter of this year," said Choi Tak-tsun, head of operating of MTR Corporation.

The newly built Austin station is at the junction of Canton Road and Jordan Road, adjacent to the Canton Road Government Offices. The location is the future terminus for the Hong Kong leg of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link.

The trip from Tuen Mun to Hung Hom will take about half an hour. Traveling time from Yuen Long to Hung Hom will be about 27 minutes. The terminus for East Rail will move forward from Tsim Sha Tsui East to Hung Hom. That will mean East Rail passengers heading for Tsim Sha Tsui East must change at Hung hom.

"The price from Tuen Mun, Yuen Long or Tin Shui Wai to Austin station will be HK$15.8 by octopus, HK$5 from Hung Hom to Austin station, and HK$10.9 from Sheung Shui to Austin.

"In a bid to promote use of the new rail extension, MTR Corporation will introduce a new 'Tuen Mun - Hung Hom Monthly Pass', at the price of HK$470, allowing holders unlimited rides on the line for a month," said Jeny Yeung, general manager of marketing and station commercial of the MTR Corporation.

The existing K16 feeder bus linking East Rail Line and West Rail Line will be phased out of operation within a month after the Southern Link commences operations.

Jacobs Receives Contract to Support Hong Kong-China Express Rail Project

PASADENA, Calif., July 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE: JEC) announced today that a subsidiary company received a contract from the Highways Department of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to provide engineering services for the design and site investigation phase of the US$5 billion Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL).

Jacobs will perform monitoring and verification of work that is executed by MTR Corporation Limited and its associated consultants/agents. Jacobs' Hong Kong office will work directly with the Railway Development Office of the Highways Department, which plans and coordinates the implementation of new rail projects in Hong Kong.

Officials noted that the contract value is US$3 million.

In making the announcement, Jacobs Group Vice President Chris Nagel said, "We greatly appreciate the opportunity to build on our existing relationship with the Highways Department. We are eager to support the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in its efforts to meet Hong Kong's increasing transportation needs and maintain Hong Kong's position as the southern gateway to China."

The Hong Kong section of the XRL will run in the form of an underground tunnel from a new terminus at West Kowloon to the boundary at Huanggang for connection with China's Mainland section. Construction is anticipated to start by end of 2009 and expected to finish in 2012.

Jacobs, with annual revenues exceeding $12 billion, is one of the world's largest and most diverse providers of technical, professional, and construction services.

Any statements made in this release that are not based on historical fact are forward-looking statements. Although such statements are based on management's current estimates and expectations, and currently available competitive, financial, and economic data, forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain. We, therefore, caution the reader that there are a variety of factors that could cause business conditions and results to differ materially from what is contained in our forward-looking statements. For a description of some of the factors which may occur that could cause actual results to differ from our forward-looking statements please refer to our 2008 Form 10-K, and in particular the discussions contained under Items 1 - Business, 1A - Risk Factors, 3 - Legal Proceedings, and 7 - Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations. We also caution the readers of this release that we do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements made herein.

New rail link cuts no time off trip
25 July 2009
SCMP

A trip on the 50 billion yuan (HK$56.8 billion) high-speed rail link between Hong Kong and Guangzhou will take as long or longer than the existing through train because the new service will terminate 23 kilometres from the provincial capital's centre.

Unlike the present line, which stops in the heart of Guangzhou's business district at Tianhe , the much touted Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong railway due to open in 2015 will terminate southeast of the city centre at Shibi, Panyu .

Travellers arriving there after a 48-minute ride from Hong Kong will find convenient links to the mainland rail network, including a much faster ride to the central city of Wuhan , Beijing or other points north.

But to get to Guangzhou's city centre, passengers will have to transfer to Guangzhou Metro and ride it for 18 stops - a journey of about 45 minutes, the

A Guangzhou Metro spokesman said: "It is a normal metro train. We haven't decided the speed and the frequency of the trains. It will probably be slower than the normal speed in the beginning."

The through train to Guangzhou East station takes an hour and 40 minutes, meaning it will actually take just as long to reach the city centre using the new express, and then the Guangzhou Metro.

One infrastructure expert had doubts about the express link's effectiveness for Hong Kong people.

"[They] will have to transit by travelling at least 45 minutes on the Metro to reach the city centre," said Zheng Tianxiang, a Pearl River Delta transport expert and an adviser to the Guangzhou city government. "The arrangement will be rather troublesome for them."

Hong Kong's section of the new rail line will cost 39 billion yuan and the Shenzhen-to-Guangzhou link 11 billion yuan, the Ministry of Railways said on Friday.

Work on the Shenzhen-to-Guangzhou section has already begun and is expected to be completed before November next year. The Hong Kong government hopes to start building its part of the project by the end of this year.

Announcing the Executive Council's approval of the plan in April last year, the government said the new line "will cut the Hong Kong-Guangzhou travelling time to just under 50 minutes - twice as fast as the Guangzhou-Hong Kong through trains on the East Rail alignment".

The Transport and Housing Bureau has heavily promoted the 48-minute ride to Guangzhou as a time-saving service between the two cities.

"The proposed rail line will provide fast, convenient and reliable services to and from Hong Kong and Guangzhou via Shenzhen," a government spokesman said late last year.

The bureau estimates that in 2016, 88,000 passengers will use the new link to get to Shenzhen and Guangzhou daily, while 11,000 passengers will transit to other Chinese cities through Guangzhou's new station.

Du Wen, head of the team that selected the site for the new station said Shibi was chosen because of its abundant land. Compensation for affected villagers also would be cheaper there than in other places.

Hong Kong Polytechnic University transport specialist Hung Wing-tat said: "Quite a number of Chinese cities are building their new railway stations outside the city centre and this is also an international trend. In many foreign countries, new railway stations are no longer in the city centre because of a shortage of land."

But he said the government should make it clear that the Guangzhou it referred to when promoting the link was not Guangzhou central. "Panyu is part of Guangzhou but it is pretty far away from heart of the city. It is wrong to assume that the express link will take the passengers straight to Guangzhou's business district, like the existing rail line is doing," he said.

New rail link cuts no time off trip
25 July 2009
SCMP

A trip on the 50 billion yuan (HK$56.8 billion) high-speed rail link between Hong Kong and Guangzhou will take as long or longer than the existing through train because the new service will terminate 23 kilometres from the provincial capital's centre.

Unlike the present line, which stops in the heart of Guangzhou's business district at Tianhe , the much touted Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong railway due to open in 2015 will terminate southeast of the city centre at Shibi, Panyu .

Travellers arriving there after a 48-minute ride from Hong Kong will find convenient links to the mainland rail network, including a much faster ride to the central city of Wuhan , Beijing or other points north.

But to get to Guangzhou's city centre, passengers will have to transfer to Guangzhou Metro and ride it for 18 stops - a journey of about 45 minutes, the

A Guangzhou Metro spokesman said: "It is a normal metro train. We haven't decided the speed and the frequency of the trains. It will probably be slower than the normal speed in the beginning."

The through train to Guangzhou East station takes an hour and 40 minutes, meaning it will actually take just as long to reach the city centre using the new express, and then the Guangzhou Metro.

One infrastructure expert had doubts about the express link's effectiveness for Hong Kong people.

"[They] will have to transit by travelling at least 45 minutes on the Metro to reach the city centre," said Zheng Tianxiang, a Pearl River Delta transport expert and an adviser to the Guangzhou city government. "The arrangement will be rather troublesome for them."

Hong Kong's section of the new rail line will cost 39 billion yuan and the Shenzhen-to-Guangzhou link 11 billion yuan, the Ministry of Railways said on Friday.

Work on the Shenzhen-to-Guangzhou section has already begun and is expected to be completed before November next year. The Hong Kong government hopes to start building its part of the project by the end of this year.

Announcing the Executive Council's approval of the plan in April last year, the government said the new line "will cut the Hong Kong-Guangzhou travelling time to just under 50 minutes - twice as fast as the Guangzhou-Hong Kong through trains on the East Rail alignment".

The Transport and Housing Bureau has heavily promoted the 48-minute ride to Guangzhou as a time-saving service between the two cities.

"The proposed rail line will provide fast, convenient and reliable services to and from Hong Kong and Guangzhou via Shenzhen," a government spokesman said late last year.

The bureau estimates that in 2016, 88,000 passengers will use the new link to get to Shenzhen and Guangzhou daily, while 11,000 passengers will transit to other Chinese cities through Guangzhou's new station.

Du Wen, head of the team that selected the site for the new station said Shibi was chosen because of its abundant land. Compensation for affected villagers also would be cheaper there than in other places.

Hong Kong Polytechnic University transport specialist Hung Wing-tat said: "Quite a number of Chinese cities are building their new railway stations outside the city centre and this is also an international trend. In many foreign countries, new railway stations are no longer in the city centre because of a shortage of land."

But he said the government should make it clear that the Guangzhou it referred to when promoting the link was not Guangzhou central. "Panyu is part of Guangzhou but it is pretty far away from heart of the city. It is wrong to assume that the express link will take the passengers straight to Guangzhou's business district, like the existing rail line is doing," he said.

Business travellers to stick to old rail line
25 July 2009
SCMP

Travellers with interests in the business heart of Guangzhou are unlikely to switch to the new express line, rail passengers and transport pundits say, but those going to Panyu and nearby Foshan and Nansha will benefit.

Building the terminus in Panyu - 23 kilometres southeast of the business district - would also attract investment there, enabling the satellite district to develop into a new sub-centre of Guangzhou, they say.

"I won't use the new express link for sure," said David So, who travels between his home in West Kowloon and his office in Tianhe every weekend.

It will take 48 minutes to reach Panyu. But travellers then face an 18-stop metro ride into the city centre, which will take about 45 minutes.

"I may be able to save time on the first half of the trip but I will lose time on the second half," Mr Ho said. "Now I only have to travel one stop on the metro to reach my office. In the future, I will have to take 17 stops. And I bet the train ticket will be more expensive than what I'm paying now."

Yusuki Lam, an arts teacher who works in Guangzhou, agreed with him. "I probably will not take the new train. I doubt I can save much time. If it can save time, it will also need to be cheap. I don't want to pay more than what I'm paying now, which is less than HK$190 per journey," she said.

But Michael Ng, a businessman with a company in Guangzhou, said the new link would be good for him.

"Many of the factories where I need to visit before making orders are in Panyu and Nansha," he said. "It will be easier to visit them."

Business specialists on the Pearl River Delta said they expected those who worked and did business in central Guangzhou to keep using the high-speed Guangzhou-Shenzhen train.

"There is a division of labour between different rail lines," said Hung Wing-tat, an associate professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said. "The new one is not for people who want to go to Guangzhou's business district. For those who want to go to the city centre, they can continue to rely on the existing rail lines."

But he said Hongkongers wanting to take advantage of the new line and move to Guangzhou could save a lot by living in Panyu, where property prices were only a fraction of those in central Guangzhou.

Zheng Tianxiang, a professor at Sun Yat-sen University's Centre for Studies of Hong Kong, Macau and the Pearl River Delta in Guangzhou, said the absence of vacant land in central Guangzhou had forced the city government to build the station at Panyu.

But Lin Jiang, director of the university's Hong Kong and Macau research centre, said that if the terminus had been put in the city centre or nearby it would have killed the existing Guangzhou-Shenzhen railway.

"Many parties' interests would have been seriously affected, such as the railway company town that the railway passes through, developers and property owners," he said.

Growing, growing, gone
A village of market gardeners might lose their homes, but not the memories
29 July 2009
South China Morning Post

It has been 16 years since Fung Yu-chuk moved out of Choi Yuen Tsuen, the farming village in Shek Kong where she grew up. Even so, she has never lost touch with the land. Admiring beds of crisp water spinach in a former neighbour's yard, Fung doesn't hesitate to wade into the mud, harvesting the best-looking leaves with deft hands.

The 48-year-old returns regularly to Choi Yuen Tsuen (literally Vegetable Garden Village), where she grows a variety of crops such as chilli and peas in her sister's market garden.

"I come back whenever I have time. I have to work in the field," says Fung, a cleaner at a TuenMun school. "It's something I can't live without."

Fung's efforts to retain her farming roots form part of an oral history project launched by heritage activist Chu Hoi-dick to better understand neglected villages and their contribution to agriculture in Hong Kong.

Under government proposals for a controversial HK$39.5 billion express rail link to Guangzhou, Choi Yuen Tsuen and the surrounding market gardens will be razed to make way for a shunting station. Compiled from interviews with 10 villagers aged from 40 to 80 about their struggle as market gardeners, the oral history project features detailed articles as well as videos, some of which can be viewed online (expressrailtruth.com).

Many regard the project as a bid to document a vanishing culture, but Chu, who has formed a Choi Yuen Tsuen support group, says he's not so pessimistic.

"While most people think nothing should get in the way of urban development, we're trying to show through this project that something precious is at stake here."

Choi Yuen Tsuen was largely wilderness when Fung's parents settled there in 1950s. They fled Guangdong after the communist takeover, but found themselves rejected as outsiders in clan-dominated villages in the New Territories. Instead, they made a new life for themselves with other migrants as market gardeners on the land around Choi Yuen Tsuen.

"We built our lives from scratch here," says Ko Chun-heung, who convened the Choi Yuen Tsuen Concern Group to co-ordinate the villagers' campaign.

Like Fung, she was born and raised in the village. "We belong here," she says. "We like the way we live and we're very proud of it. Others might think we have old-fashioned values, but they can't just dismiss it and take it away."

Villagers say they knew nothing about the plan until it was gazetted last November and officials began marking property with paint, but they are fighting to keep their homes. The proposal will require the 500 residents to vacate Choi Yuen Tsuen by next year.

Unlike clan villages, where most residents share the same surname, Choi Yuen Tsuen is made up of disparate families, many of whom were refugees from the civil war on the mainland. However, Ko says the community has long been neglected by the government. Choi Yuen Tsuen doesn't enjoy much of the infrastructure that indigenous villages take for granted, such as a village office and public toilets, and residents have had to maintain facilities themselves. The village only acquired its name and mailbox about 10 years ago through the help of a legislator.

Their proposed eviction further adds to the sense of injustice, Ko says. "We've been here for three generations and we deserve to be valued as a thriving community, just like any indigenous village."

Although Fung moved out of the village after she wed, her jobs in town made her appreciate the country life even more.

"I realised how free it is to be a farmer. I have more control of things and it makes me feel wonderful. When you work for others, it's very stressful and emasculating because no matter how hard you work at your job, praise is rare and you are seldom recognised for your contribution.

"I find it much more rewarding to farm because hard work often pays off, and its value is not measured only with money."

Weekends spent on a vegetable patch may not be enough to sustain Fung's family, but they feed her soul.

"It stimulates my creativity. A lot of thought goes into deciding what to grow and what to cook. I am sure I'd be more dim-witted without my farm," she says with a laugh.

Younger residents such as Lam Ho-cheong, 26, also prefer the simple pleasures of village life to the bustle of the city. "I feel free and happy here. You don't need so much money to get by. I won't starve as long as I have land to grow vegetables," says Lam, a construction worker. "I like the peace and quiet here."

His mother, Lai Kam-lan, 51, has raised Lam and his four siblings by growing vegetables for nearly four decades. "It not only feeds my family, but also gives me freedom because I can be self-sufficient," she says.

But with competition from cheap mainland suppliers and surrounding streams polluted by construction projects, vegetable cultivation is becoming problematic, Lai says.

Yet many in Choi Yuen Tsuen still prefer that to a new life in the urban jungle.

"I'd feel trapped and very sad," says Law Wai-lin, 52. "I love how free and easy it is. I can do a bit of weeding here and there or make dishes with the plants I grow."

The variety of vegetables cultivated in Choi Yuen Tsuen has often surprised volunteers interviewing them for the project.

University student Chan Ping-fung, 21, says: "They can pick up a vegetable somewhere that I haven't seen before and know what to do with it. They do it all the time."

She learned, for instance, about the versatile phoenix eye fruit, which can be used in a soup, to marinate meat or put in rice as a flavour-enhancer.

Chan joined the support group because she felt villagers weren't fairly treated and found herself moved by their determination to keep farming despite the modest returns, and she was charmed by their rustic lifestyle.

Chu hopes scattered rural settlements such as Choi Yuen Tsuen will receive the same treatment as indigenous villages.

"They may not have been around for 100 years, but theirs is a vibrant community compared to many areas in the New Territories where land has been turned into container storage sites and parking lots."

Beside documenting residents' lives, Chu's oral history project provides background information for the guided tours that he has been running every Sunday for the past three months. (The three-hour tour costs HK$40 and details can also be found at expressrailtruth.com.)

Fung often serves as a guide.

"It's great that more people now know we exist," she says. "It's important to get the facts right, so I did a lot of research about our history. I have to be well prepared as you never know what visitors will ask," she says. "I also discovered my talent for public speaking."

Choi Yuen Tsuen was already closely knit, but the project has made residents appreciate each other even more.

"It's been a great experience to get to know our people better," Ko says. "These stories are the best way to show others why this village should not be destroyed."

this train will be fantastic to visit Panyu or surrounding industrial hinterland

Exco poised to discuss Guangzhou rail route
13 July 2009
SCMP

The Executive Council is expected to discuss plans for an express rail line to Guangzhou in late September after an environmental impact assessment backed the plans.

Government sources said the report - to be released next week for public scrutiny - had found that the rail line would have little impact on conservation land and underground water resources along the route.

The sources said officials hoped to seek funding from the Legislative Council around November if Exco gave its approval.

But green groups have criticised the government for jumping the gun before it has an environmental permit, which will not be issued until the assessment has been scrutinised by the public and the Advisory Council on the Environment.

In addition, about 90 New Territories villagers who must move to make way for a railway depot are still not co-operating.

Under the plans, up to 20 million tonnes of construction waste generated by construction of the line's 26 kilometre tunnel will be recycled.

Twenty per cent of it will be used along the line, 30 per cent will be used on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge project, and the rest will be shipped to the mainland.

The line, which will allow a rail journey from West Kowloon to Guangzhou via Shenzhen in just 48 minutes, will have soundproofed tracks to ensure the high-speed trains do not disturb activities at the future West Kowloon arts hub.

The government is facing obstacles in calculating compensation for villagers who have to move from Tsoi Yuen Tsuen. Some residents say they will try to block demolition of their homes.

Property ownership in Tsoi Yuen Tsuen is highly complicated, with about a quarter of the villagers living on government land and some suspected of occupying dwellings built illegally.

"The government needs to calculate the amount of compensation for each of the 150 households. It would be very helpful if the villagers can volunteer information," the source said.

Only 60 of the households have so far provided information.

Villagers and activists have proposed other sites for the Tsoi Yuen Tsuen depot, but the sources said they were not feasible since all would require the construction of a long spur line and that would affect more households and conservation land.

The sources said the village must be vacated by November next year.

The HK$39b question nobody asked
Cross-border station site never challenged
18 August 2009
South China Morning Post

Legislators considering the new cross-border express rail project spent a lot of time over the past nine years poring over funding figures and pondering matters of design, routing and environmental impact.

But not one member asked the crucial question: where would the Guangzhou terminus for the HK$39.5 billion Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong line be?

As deliberations rolled on - and as the government began touting the speedy 48-minute trip the new line would offer its passengers - lawmakers remained ignorant, as some still are, of the fact that a trip of similar length on a commuter line would be needed to reach central Guangzhou.

The question needed to be asked because, as a search of documents and minutes of the Legislative Council's railways subcommittee shows, the government was not telling them clearly either. While the Guangdong authorities decided in 2004 that the line would end at Shibi in Panyu , 23 kilometres and an estimated 45-minute metro ride from northern Tianhe in the central business district, where the present through train terminates, this information did not appear in a Legco paper until 2005.

Even then the Hong Kong government did not say - and no one asked - how the passengers, having made the much-vaunted 48-minute ride from West Kowloon, would get to the city centre or how long it would take.

The word Shibi was simply stated in Legco documents and the terminus shown on a map with no information about connections to the city centre. In fact, taking into account transfer time and the 18-stop metro ride, the journey will take at least as long as the present 100 minutes.

No legislator even asked where Shibi was. One, Albert Chan Wai-yip, spotted its location on a map in 2006, but he did not question it. Meanwhile, it has emerged that, even before the site was officially chosen, the Guangdong government was weighing up the merits of four alternatives - three of them in Panyu and one in Haizhu district - giving a clear signal to anyone alert enough to spot it that the station was going to be a long way from the city centre.

Some of the lawmakers sitting on the Legco subcommittee still do not know where the Guangzhou terminus is. "No, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express rail link does not head to Panyu. It goes to Guangzhou," unionist lawmaker Li Fung-ying said. When it was pointed out to her that Shibi is in Panyu, she said: "Then I need to follow this up in the next meeting."

Democratic Party transport spokesman Andrew Cheng Kar-foo, a member of the subcommittee since 2000, said he did not know it would take about the same time to travel to Guangzhou city centre with the new link as on the existing railway.

"I just heard this from you for the first time. We have not studied it in detail in the past," he told a South China Morning Post reporter.

Engineering sector legislator Raymond Ho Chung-tai said it was not important where the Guangzhou terminus was located since the link would be part of the national express-rail system. "We should not just narrowly look at how long it takes to travel to Guangzhou," he said.

Subcommittee chairwoman Miriam Lau Kin-yee, the transport sector legislator, said lawmakers had not questioned the location of the Guangzhou terminus because it was outside the legislature's scope.

As it turns out, the convenience of Hong Kong passengers was far from the minds of Guangdong officials planning the new line. "The four [alternative sites] were chosen because the new station is not solely for Guangzhou. It is also built to serve Foshan ," a mainland engineer involved in the project since the early 2000s said.

The terminus was shown on maps attached to some documents shown to legislators, but no mention was made of its distance from the city centre, although there were references to its being "at the heart of the Guangzhou and Foshan metropolitan zone". In fact, when the Hong Kong line was first mentioned in a government railway development strategy report in 2000, it was conceived as an express route to the border - an alternative to the then Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation's multi-stop commuter line.

A government spokesman said Hong Kong had agreed on the location in March 2005.

But legislators were briefed on the route only in December 2005, when they were provided with a map showing Shibi's location. The map showed the terminus would be some distance from Guangzhou's centre, but not exactly how far away nor what the transit arrangements would be. And no one asked.

An international tender to design and build the station was issued by mainland authorities in May 2004. It stated clearly that it would be in Shibi, Panyu, and would serve the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express link. This was almost a year before Legco was informed of the terminus' location.

Great! That's how LegCo works.

It makes me laugh... very hard... sigh...
It's a simple question and answer that probably many of us have already figured out by reading news articles that are posted here way before the Legislators did.

Well, if you think about it, those Legislators that care are those don't have the "Home Return Permit." The don't have a clue where Shibi is geographically, all they know it's "in" Guangzhou (Guangzhou Metro to be correct.)

And those who probably know where Shibi is geographically don't care about the process, it's just a matter to vote "yes" and approve the funding since it's a Beijing related project.

The fact that Legco and the public were not told in a manner that could be understood without having to get a map out and understand GZ subway system is the most interesting point.

Legco make decisions on he facts presented, and they should expect the civil service to present un-biased information. Which department produced the reports on projected passenger for travel between too important commercial centres?

I somehow have the impression that it's forced through by the Chinese government...

The fact that Legco and the public were not told in a manner that could be understood without having to get a map out and understand GZ subway system is the most interesting point.

Legco make decisions on he facts presented, and they should expect the civil service to present un-biased information. Which department produced the reports on projected passenger for travel between too important commercial centres?

It doesn't matter the new terminus is in Shibi, or is it in the traditional Guangzhou centre.
The LegCo is only approving funding to construct the section between HK and the boarder. The rest of the alignment and the terminus location in Guangzhou is pretty much in no say of whoever in HK.

In fact, Shibi is centrally located between Guangzhou, Foshan and Panyu, it is planned to be the new CBD amongst three cities by the Guangdong government. Devleoping Shibi is a long term project to develop new area, not short termed to focus and further congest the old Guangzhou. In 20-30 years, people will go to Shibi for business and transfer, not concentrated in Guangzhou.

In terms of the reports, they are prepared by the MTR Corp and Highway Department in conjunction with the Guangdong government.

I somehow have the impression that it's forced through by the Chinese government...

The Chinese government is probably in the leading role to drive the project in HK. Look at the speed that things are getting done, it's lightening fast compares to other rail project. All the construction specifications also follow the Chinese standard, which are different from Hong Kong.

But if we say no to the HSR, HK will pretty much be isolated from the 1-hour living radius with the rest of Pearl River Delta. It's like a suicide call if we had done that.

Is there an example of a commercial centre being moved 40+ kms into a rural area without existing infrastructure to support it?

It will probably be a train station with a lot of buses to get to down town quickly and not much else.

Is there an example of a commercial centre being moved 40+ kms into a rural area without existing infrastructure to support it?


Maybe not, but I suppose they'd think that when the rail is completed, then it falls into the category "existing infrastructure"...

Is there an example of a commercial centre being moved 40+ kms into a rural area without existing infrastructure to support it?

It will probably be a train station with a lot of buses to get to down town quickly and not much else.

Possibly Shenzhen. What was there in the 70s?
There was pretty much nothing, except being next to HK where the commercial centre was still concentrated in Central.
Everything started from scratch around LoWu and expanded out.

And 40+km from where? Shibi is within 20km from Guangzhou, Panyu and Foshan.
Centrally located amongst the three cities. Roadways, Expressways and Metro are built and being built into Shibi along with the HSR terminal.

Yes, Shibi today is not developed and surrounded by factories on the perimeter, and the location isn't in the traditional prime area of Guangzhou.
But things are filling in from all sides. Guangzhou is expanding south, Foshan is expanding east and Panyu expanding west.
When the terminal opens, things are planned to fill the area from inside out as well.

And don't forget, the HSR will operate before the HK section completes.
Something will be there before we can hop on the HSR for Guangzhou.
When the Chinese government planned to develop an area, it will happen.
(Although it may not happen according to the people's will...)

Incheon was one perhaps. Shenzhen does not really count as it filled a desperate need and would never of happened without Hong Kong. It was not re-located but created.

I will stay a transport interchange for a long time.

With a decent busway / BRT system at each end the journey time from financial centre to financial centre could be 90 mins.

The HSR terminal isn't going to relocate the train service from the existing terminals in the area. Services will still be going to the existing terminals.

The HSR is going to create a whole new business district, rather than trying to move and consolidate the three city centers.

How about other CRH trains arriving at Guangzhou? Will they be relocated there? I presume the CRH network will extend north and east from Guangzhou. How will the alignment work? Can they create another major station in Tianhe further down the line?

A new HSR system is not designed for urban commuters which is what HK needs. Most HK residents fly into mainland cities and will continue to do so.

Wuhan 7 hours by train (guessing station will be 1 hour from downtown) or 4.5 hours flying. Hopefully not another example of HK Gov implementing without thinking and standing up for what it needs.

The whole network is interconnected. Hong Kongers may not train to Wuhan but Guangzhou residents may train to Changsha along the way. The key is how accessible are these stations to residents? If the Hong Kong line terminates outside Guangzhou, perhaps they can transfer to another CRH to a more central Guangzhou station that happens to sit on the Guangzhou - Wuhan line?

Opinion : Express rail link will generate huge economic benefits for HK
20 August 2009
South China Morning Post

I refer to the article on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express rail link ("The $39b question no one asked", August 18).

The primary objective of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express rail link is to connect Hong Kong with the mainland's 12,000-kilometre high-speed rail network. The new Guangzhou terminus at Shibi is designed to be a mega transportation hub, well served by national high-speed rail lines, Guangdong inter-city rail networks, the metro lines of Guangzhou and Foshan , buses and coaches, and a number of major highways. In fact, it will become one of the four biggest passenger transport centres in the country.

In future, commuters from Hong Kong will be able to switch from Shibi to the proposed Beijing-Guangzhou passenger line, reaching Wuhan in five hours and Beijing in 10 hours, which is much shorter than at present. The new metro and inter-city lines being planned by the mainland authorities will provide convenient access to different parts of Guangzhou and a fast connection with other cities in Guangdong.

Shibi is under rapid transformation. It is situated at the heart of the Guangzhou and Foshan metropolitan zone. As a focal point of national and regional traffic, it will be developed into a major city centre and a travellers' destination in its own right. The construction of a comprehensive development area of 11.4 square kilometres around the Shibi hub started earlier this year, which is positioned as another commercial centre of Guangzhou.

As for the Hong Kong section of the express rail link, we are working to start its construction in late 2009 for completion in 2015. The rail link will reduce the travelling time to key cities in the Pearl River Delta region and beyond. It is expected that it will generate huge economic benefits in the order of HK$80 billion over 50 years for Hong Kong, in terms of time saving.

Over the years, we have been keeping the Legislative Council and the public informed of the development of this express rail link and will continue to do so. As a matter of fact, that rail link will join up with the national and regional transport systems at Shibi, as was reported to Legco as early as April 2005, shortly after an agreement was reached with the mainland authorities in March of that year.

Yau Shing-mu, acting Secretary for Transport and Housing

"The primary objective of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express rail link is to connect Hong Kong with the mainland's 12,000-kilometre high-speed rail network"

Is that what HK needs or Beijing wants? Why does HK need linking to the high speed rail network at the expense of a intercity service?

Will be great for a factory Owner in Humen, Foshan or Panyu, but those that need to get from centre to centre (the majority of potential users) it is of limited benefit.

"The primary objective of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express rail link is to connect Hong Kong with the mainland's 12,000-kilometre high-speed rail network"

Is that what HK needs or Beijing wants? Why does HK need linking to the high speed rail network at the expense of a intercity service?

Will be great for a factory Owner in Humen, Foshan or Panyu, but those that need to get from centre to centre (the majority of potential users) it is of limited benefit.

You can try emailing the Secretary for T&H and see. Make sure to post the reply here though!

Opinion : Better to make express rail link part of the existing network
28 August 2009
SCMP

In his letter ("Express rail link will generate huge economic benefits for HK", August 20), Yau Shing-mu, acting secretary for transport and housing, completely misses the point of your article on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link ("The $39b question no one asked", August 18).

His justification failed to address the HK$39 billion cost for the Hong Kong section.

Better patronage could be gained at a fraction of the cost by locating the terminus at Kam Sheung Road and using the existing and improved rail network to connect to the majority of travellers' destinations, as opposed to the less convenient and expensive deep underground station planned for West Kowloon.

An interchange to West Rail at Kam Sheung Road would provide good access to New Territories West, thus satisfying the justified complaints from residents in these areas over the lack of a station on the proposed line to Kowloon and would also give direct connections to Tsuen Wan and to West and South Kowloon.

An extension of the airport line from Tsing Yi to Kam Sheung Road would give a direct connection to Hong Kong Island and Chek Lap Kok. Longer term, an East Rail extension to Kam Sheung Road, via the Northern Link, would give access to New Territories East.

A terminus at Kam Sheung Road would be operationally superior to one at West Kowloon and cheaper and quicker to construct, thus making the hoped for 2015-16 completion date a real possibility.

Better and quicker access to most of Hong Kong would be at the expense of saving a few minutes travelling to West Kowloon. This is nothing compared to the 45-minute journey from Shibi to central Guangzhou or the five hours to Wuhan or 10 hours to Beijing.

So why did the Legislative Council not vote for it?

The reason is simple; they were never given this as an option.

Now is the time for our Legco members to ask the question why and bring about changes to reduce costs, and give Hong Kong a better rail system sooner.

Ronald Taylor, Western

the link from Kam Sheung Road to LMC would benefit a large number of people trying to get to SZ, and would significantly reduce journey time from TST to the border at a frction of the cost of the new high speed link. Any reason why this lower cost option was not done 1st? Who is deciding transport policy for HK?

TSTE - KSR 21 mins (+7 to LMC) 28 mins
TSTE - LMC 48 mins

If this link was put in it might significantly reduce the patronage on the Kowloon to Futian section of the new line.

Also why do Beijing to Tianjin get a HSR system from urban area to urban area but not HK / GZ.

Cost of Kam Sheung Road to LMC link $9 billion and would be a huge benefit to many. HSR - dodgy projected numbers and great for a factory owner in Foshan and a train spotter with time on his hands to get to BJ.

Imagine if HK Gov had decided the BJ - Tianjin link would not be centre to centre but stop 2/3's the way in the middle of nowhere, the mayor's of BJ and TJ would politely tell HK Gov what they thought of the plan and get it changed. Central planning is great!

Approx. 15km

Surely Kam Sheung Road to LMC link would be the best service for reducing travel time to GZ

High-speed Guangzhou train may cost more than existing link
20 September 2009
South China Morning Post

Passengers might have to pay more to ride on the planned high-speed Hong Kong-to-Guangzhou rail link than on the existing through train, a senior official said.

But the government would not seek to quickly recover the cost of the HK$39.5 billion it will spend on the Hong Kong leg of the planned Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express railway, Undersecretary for Transport and Housing Yau Shing-mu said.

Speaking on an RTHK programme, Yau said the planned new railway would alleviate heavy passenger traffic on the East Rail, which carried about 220,000 travellers to Lo Wu daily. The link would also connect Hong Kong to the high-speed and high-frequency inter-city network on the mainland, he said.

The Transport and Housing Bureau has projected that 99,000 passengers would use the planned new link daily in 2016. The new rail link will halve travelling time to Guangzhou to 48 minutes.

"The express rail is going to be more convenient than the current MTR through-train service [which costs HK$190 per trip]," he said. "It may charge a higher fare - but a final decision has not been made yet."

Yau said officials aimed to operate a competitive rail link and attract passengers to the new service.

Concerns have been aired that construction of the planned new express link will cost much more than originally budgeted. Government engineers said some time ago the cost could top HK$60 billion. Yau would not reveal the latest cost estimates but admitted that they might be higher than originally envisaged.

The HSR terminal isn't going to relocate the train service from the existing terminals in the area. Services will still be going to the existing terminals.

The HSR is going to create a whole new business district, rather than trying to move and consolidate the three city centers.

Is there are HSR stations in Foshan and Panyu? Does Shibi station serve all three cities so that they don't need to have their own station?

Shibi serves greater Gaungzhou for people who need to take an inter province train i.e. not businessmen who want centre to centre transport systems, and not HK people as they have an airport.

The creepy design of the HSR HK terminus :ohno:

http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac356/twrail2/I.jpg
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac356/twrail2/J.jpg
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac356/twrail2/K.jpg
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac356/twrail2/L.jpg
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac356/twrail2/H.jpg
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac356/twrail2/F.jpg
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac356/twrail2/E.jpg
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac356/twrail2/D.jpg
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac356/twrail2/C.jpg
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac356/twrail2/B.jpg


西九車站研成大珠三角樞紐
(星島)2009年9月22日 星期二 05:30

(綜合報道)

(星島日報 報道)規劃署 委託的課題組專家昨在「大珠三角 區域規劃研討會」中提出，擬定的廣深港高速鐵路香港段總站－西九龍車站，應解決通關及行政問題，由香港本地樞紐進一步拓展成大珠三角樞紐，以接通大珠三角交通網絡。同時，又建議車站應好好打造「車站經濟」，將單純的乘客上落車地點發展成商鋪、娛樂場所等混集一身的多元化公共空間。

　　昨日獲邀出席「大珠三角區域規劃研討會」的有粵港澳及珠三角九市（廣州、深圳 、珠海、東莞、佛山、惠州、中山、江門和肇慶）的相關政府官員、專家學者及業內人士，分別就「促進區域協調發展」及「構建區域綜合交通運輸系統」出謀獻策。其中受規劃署委託研究大珠三角區域鐵路網絡與城市發展的課題組－理大 中國商業中心亦有參與會議。

　　打造「車站經濟」

　　該課題組專家指出，大珠三角的軌道交通發展，有助拉近各站之間距離，中和空間的因素，改變各地競爭與合作關係。本港的高鐵總站西九龍車站，除發展成本地交通樞紐外，更應解決通關問題，抵銷行政界線束縛，將車站打造成大珠三角的綜合樞紐，接上區內龐大交通網絡。

　　針對西九龍車站的本土規劃，課題組專家續建議，車站宜規劃為城市中心，在車站周邊騰出空間發展商鋪及娛樂場所等，藉此打造「車站經濟」，令車站不止是一個乘客上落車的地方，更是一個多元化的公共空間。發展局局長林鄭月娥 為研討會致辭時指，希望粵港澳三地在資源開發、環保及交通基建上作出協調，優勢互補，達致改善民生的目標。

　　另外，浸大當代中國研究所所長薛鳳旋指出，交通協同發展運輸系統，能有助推動大珠三角發展成全國最大的物流中心及先進製造基地，但必先要解決區內城市間及城市內部的交通銜接及規管問題。以區內的五大機場為例，五方定位應清晰分立，從而錯位發展，比如香港定位為國際航空中心，廣州與深圳則分別主力發展國內物流及國際物流等。本報記者

Why such a huge building?

Surely just two platforms Arrival & departure. I suspect the passengers will have to run a gauntlet of shops to catch a train or leave the place.

^^ Can't say I'm surprised about the design of the terminus, it looks just like Hung Hom station, conservative, cheap & tacky, typical HK style......... I'm afraid the west kowloon culture district will pretty much end up looking like this........... :(

鄭汝樺：高鐵非「駁腳艇仔」
(星島)2009年9月24日 星期四 05:30
(綜合報道)

(星島日報 報道)廣深港高速鐵路並非「駁腳艇仔」，是真正與國家高鐵經濟接軌的項目。運輸及房屋局 局長鄭汝樺 接受本報訪問透露，按目前國家高速鐵路網規劃，高鐵港段落成後，乘客毋須在廣州或深圳 轉駁內地高鐵線，一車直達北京 、上海 、鄭州、成都等十六個內地主要城市，「是在西九龍上車，不停站，十小時直達北京先落車」，每日目標合共對發三十三對列車。她指出，高鐵將帶動內地客來港，促進六大產業發展。

　　記者：陳意婷

　　國家的「四縱四橫」高速鐵路網正進行得如火如荼，全國高鐵總長足達一萬二千公里以上。鄭汝樺昨日表示，擬建的廣深港高速鐵路走線正好與國家高鐵網的其中「兩縱」相連，其中深圳龍華站與國家杭福深客運專線相連；廣州石壁站就與國家京廣客運專線接駁。將來高鐵香港段落城後，除了有直通車接通深圳及廣州，更會有長途直通車直達北京、上海、鄭州、成都等十六個內地主要城市。

　　不停站十小時到北京

　　「目標是在二○一六年高鐵落成，就已經有直通車去到這十六個城市！」她指出，長途直通車的每日對發數目為三十三對，但相信在通車初期數目較少，部分城市會一日一對，武漢等較大的城市就會一日兩對，至於需求最高的上海、北京則會每日多達五對列車。再加上每十五分鐘一班往深圳的列車，以及每三十分鐘一班往石壁的列車，在西九龍總站每天往來的列車估計多達過百對。倘客量需求大更再可加密班次。

　　日後本港高鐵系統更會仿效日本 鐵路模式，設特急、急行、快速及普通列車之分。鄭汝樺解釋，例如往深圳龍華、虎門等站的就會「站站停」；往廣州石壁站就已有不停站列車，確保乘客四十八分鐘到抵廣州；往十六個內地城市的長途直通車，有者只停少量中途站，有者甚至會不停站直達目的地。而短途列車一列擬設八卡，載客量達到六百人，長途的更預計會多出一倍，「真的一列列內地客送來香港參加展覽，見銀行家、律師、旅遊等」，他們帶來的龐大經濟效益是無法計算的。

　　不會成虧損「大白象」

　　兩個月前，港府更已由路政署牽頭，與國家鐵道部成立一個常設的專家小組，專門合作研究長途直通車的建築標準、維修、位置設定等細節。鄭汝樺強調，外界毋須擔心本港高鐵會成為台灣 高鐵的翻版，成為虧損「大白象」，因為一則台灣高鐵只行走於台灣本土範圍之內，而本港高鐵則是接駁高經濟增長的內地市場；其次是台灣高鐵因客量不足，加上債台高築，招至虧損，但本港高鐵是由政府全資興建，無欠債之憂。

　　鄭汝樺重申：「高鐵真的要上馬了，不應再受其他議題所牽絆，高鐵是一個長遠策略性經濟發展，打通本港與內地高鐵經濟命脈的項目」，有助長遠帶動本港及內地的經濟活動。


From http://hk.news.yahoo.com/article/090923/3/edk1.html

Why such a huge building?

Surely just two platforms Arrival & departure. I suspect the passengers will have to run a gauntlet of shops to catch a train or leave the place.

Don't always be so sure. Look at this again?

http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac356/twrail2/C.jpg

it does look rather complicated to get down to the platform level from the departures!
mmm... i guess it's quite a tricky one when they wanna squeeze in some commercial developments above the station!

Why such a huge building?

Surely just two platforms Arrival & departure. I suspect the passengers will have to run a gauntlet of shops to catch a train or leave the place.

Which major rail station in the world has no shop in it?

Don't always be so sure. Look at this again?

http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac356/twrail2/C.jpg

If only if he knows how to read engineering drawings...

Looks like there is gonna be four towers above the station.

It is really about the driving principle for the architecture. 15 years ago it would be passenger focussed, but now there is a fear it is developer / retailer focussed.

It is really about the driving principle for the architecture. 15 years ago it would be passenger focussed, but now there is a fear it is developer / retailer focussed.

Yeh, but following your logic, why not maximize the potential revenue of running the station?

If the Government is honest and states it is developing a shopping centre that happens to have a mall, then I really don't have an issue with it. If it is a train station as a primary purpose to enable fast and effective transportation between urban districts in southern Guangdong to grow the overall economic integration of the region then passenger issues should take priority in layout design. Both do not mix that well. Look at the complete mess called 'Terminal' 2.

^^ It's called multi-purpose use. Terminal 2 at HKIA is designed to serve as a departure hall, transportation hub as well as a shopping mall in the Tung Chung/CLK area. Airport Authority didn't hide the idea, it was out there when the building was designed. Rather than just being an airport, making an attraction draws local people to spend money there to maximize revenue.

^^ It's called multi-purpose use. Terminal 2 at HKIA is designed to serve as a departure hall, transportation hub as well as a shopping mall in the Tung Chung/CLK area. Airport Authority didn't hide the idea, it was out there when the building was designed. Rather than just being an airport, making an attraction draws local people to spend money there to maximize revenue.

"Jack of all trades... master of none". Whilst very well connected to the AEL (exit right door :lol:), I'll let it off the hook momentarily for being architecturally sub-par (compared to the originally immaculate T1) and feeling like a cheap shopping mall.

The scale of the layout is a mess... even being a person that walks everywhere fast, just crossing the loooooong walkways at T2 are a drag. Don't even get me started at trying to get some one point of T2 to another... :bash:

Then if you actually go through immigration at T2, the customs hall is like some hell from the bowels of London Heathrow, then the people mover itself from T2 terminates at T1 and you have to change trains (went to Taiwan in April '08 on KA)?!

Has anyone ever suggested T2 is good? Having shops in a building is not an issue unless it distracts from the primary purpose (catching a flight). T2 layout is very poor with what's seems to be like every person complaining about it after having to use it

I'm somewhat relieved that they're actually making something of the rail terminus (the entrance atrium and roof); all along I was thinking that they were going to hide everything underground à la Kowloon Station.

Ideally the train platforms would be naturally lit but this being Hong Kong I don't think that's likely to happen. I don't know, something strikes me as being terribly wrong when all the environmental mitigation measures merely consist of planting trees and masking "undesirable" structures with green walls. Wouldn't a reduction in the need for artificial lighting be a great way of mitigating the building's environmental impact?

How many platforms are actually needed?

Building could be 1/4 of the size and probably still function well. Appears to be a grand public project where how it looks is more important than how it works.

Has anyone ever suggested T2 is good? Having shops in a building is not an issue unless it distracts from the primary purpose (catching a flight). T2 layout is very poor with what's seems to be like every person complaining about it after having to use it

The quality and architectural layout of Terminal 2 is a whole other story in terms of functionality. I agree it could have been redesigned to lay everything out better, and things can be smoother. I am one of those complain about how it was designed as well.

But the big picture is you agree it's okay to have retail and commercial activities within a transportation hub, i.e. rail stations and airport. You can't take just one bad example and call the idea a failure, as there many other successful one.

Hong Hum station is fine - shops one end station the other. It is the artificial walking in front of shops that seems the most ridicules. If people have time then they should choose if they want to shop. Being forced to do something for the pure profit of a property development company is...

Hong Hum station is fine - shops one end station the other. It is the artificial walking in front of shops that seems the most ridicules. If people have time then they should choose if they want to shop. Being forced to do something for the pure profit of a property development company is...

... revenue capture to support the very costly railway operation with superb service quality.

No one points a gun at you and tell you to shop in the stations, just like you walk along the streets or in a mall. If you don't want to spend money, then you aren't going to.

The point is every passenger is forced to extend your journey in the hope that they spend money. If the Government is subsidising the building (cheap land, very fast planning etc) then it should be more balanced for the economic benefit of the city not the developer.

Being forced to walk past shops is the same as being forced to go into a shopping mall and circle it for 10 minutes when you just a simple quick 2 minute journey.

Does it any longer to walk from the platform to the exits tho, with the shops on the sides? I don't think so.

YES - if the walk is artificially long to force passengers to walk past shop frontages that they really don't have to.

Terminal 2 is a classic example. You are forced to walk in completely the wrong direction (and past approx 30 shops) to get to immigration. If you skip through a train it is actual quicker still to use terminal 1 to enter the airport proper.

This is probably why no one has a positive word to say about T2. Extra 15 mins is wasted for every passenger for the sake of footfalls outside shops.

New rail terminal looks to be designed on the same 'developer first' principle.

YES - it would be like having to walk indirect route through a shopping mall to get to the star ferry as opposed to just getting off a bus and having a 30 secs walk

Terminal 2 is a classic example. You are forced to walk in completely the wrong direction (and past approx 30 shops) to get to immigration. If you skip through a train it is actual quicker still to use terminal 1 to enter the airport proper.

This is probably why no one has a positive word to say about T2. Extra 15 mins is wasted for every passenger for the sake of footfalls outside shops.

New rail terminal looks to be designed on the same 'developer first' principle.

It it true? Or is it to fit the immigration and security check point under the same roof before the APM?

Look at the building, underground connection, and existing infrastructure under Terminal 1 as a whole instead of only one floor.

Yes it is true - it is quicker to back walk through terminal 1.

Er... Sorry I was referring to Hung Hom which you were talking about....?
But never mind.

I suppose T2 is anticipating more usage as the satellite X-shaped terminal is built.

Hung Hom is reasonably direct, walk in and walk on

Hung Hom is reasonably direct, walk in and walk on

But they have shops too

Hmm.......

From what I can see, I think I can understand why there is scrutiny and analysis regarding this infrastructure project.

Is the MTR Corporation involved in this, then if so, I understand.

Since if so, this project will then be funded using taxpayers money and thus the people want to be sure of this project (in that there taxes are used most efficient and will not be wasted on something that will give little-to-no benefit)

If this was completely privately-funded, then there won't be any problems. However, since this is supported by public funds, then thus the public want to be sure of how their money is used.

Did I understand this right?

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn38/xjmbke479/136_116440_b700335c353c5f6.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn38/xjmbke479/136_116440_912877cce2674e7.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn38/xjmbke479/136_116440_79ec16556f78118.jpg

Is this the final design for the Terminal Building? Even a 3rd Tier mainland city can come up with something much nicer.

And please Hong Kong, Norman Foster isn't the only starchitect in the world.

Here's an interesting proposal from The Professional Commons (includes Paul Zimmerman of "Designing Hong Kong" fame):

http://www.procommons.org.hk/?p=2643
Opening remark: http://www.procommons.org.hk/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Opening-Remark-by-Mr.-George-Cautherley.pdf
PDF: http://www.procommons.org.hk/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Express_Rail_Link_Report.pdf
Powerpoint: http://www.procommons.org.hk/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/ERL_Powerpoint_English.pdf

Basically, this reduces the cost from HK$63billion to HK$25billion and relocates the HSR terminus to Kam Sheung Road (West Rail). At this new terminus would be an easy interchange to the regular metro network (West Rail) and a proposed AEL spur link from Tsing Yi, as apparently the AEL and TCL only share tracks on the Tsing Ma bridge, so the Tsing Yi-Kowloon-Hong Kong section has capacity to spare allowing AEL trains to run from Kam Sheung Road.

Also, for intercity journeys, travellers going via Kowloon or Hong Kong can use the in-town check-in. I could also see the potential in adding in-town check-in at Tsing Yi too.

Anyway, the cash saved (HK$43billion) would fund the Shatin-Central link (HK$37.4billion) and South Island Line (HK$7billion) pretty much completely. This is the sort of lateral thinking I approve of and more people should be screaming at the useless HK Govt. to go with an option link this.

... and Chinese version: http://www.procommons.org.hk/?p=2643&lang=zh
PDF: http://www.procommons.org.hk/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/%E6%96%B0%E9%AB%98%E9%90%B5%E3%80%8C%E8%B2%AB%E9%80%9A%E5%8D%97%E5%8C%97%E6%96%B9%E6%A1%88%E3%80%8D.pdf
Powerpoint: http://www.procommons.org.hk/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/ERL_Powerpoint_Chinese.pdf

Is this the final design for the Terminal Building? Even a 3rd Tier mainland city can come up with something much nicer.

And please Hong Kong, Norman Foster isn't the only starchitect in the world.

No idea whether it's the final design or not, but what I wanna say is that the proposed design for HSR HK terminal is damn takky!!!




CRH3 passing through the Zhu Zhou station
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTIzMzkyNjAw.html

why do so many people get giddy when they see trains?

This proposal from a few years ago seems to have a less grandiose train station.

www.legco.gov.hk/.../tp_rdpcb1-etwb_t_cr_1_16_581_99-e.pdf - app. D

Also


www.districtcouncils.gov.hk/yl_d/english/doc/DC/DCM_E_5.doc

“This Council considers the Government’s decision to change the alignment option adopted for the Hong Kong Section of the XRL from ‘shared corridor’ to ‘dedicated corridor’ a complete disregard of the interests of residents in the New Territories West. The Government should at the same time construct the NOL to connect the new Futian Port in Shenzhen with Kam Sheung Road Station.”

Is this the final design for the Terminal Building? Even a 3rd Tier mainland city can come up with something much nicer.

And please Hong Kong, Norman Foster isn't the only starchitect in the world.

the terminal's not actually designed by foster+partners. aedas apparently won the competition so it's their proposal.

the terminal's not actually designed by foster+partners. aedas apparently won the competition so it's their proposal.

Arrrrgh. They were the idiots that created HKIA:

Terminal 2... http://www.aedas.com/Asia/HKIATerminal2
North Satellite terminal... http://www.aedas.com/Asia/HKIANorthSatelliteTerminal
East Hall extension... http://www.aedas.com/Asia/HKIAEastHallExtension

:ohno::ohno::ohno:

Costly railway plan sets off alarm bells
3 October 2009
South China Morning Post

Hong Kong's government is synonymous with impressive infrastructure projects. Among those being built or on the drawing board are the West Kowloon Cultural District, the bridge to Macau, the Central to Wan Chai bypass and redevelopment of the Kai Tak airport site. The reasoning for such schemes is simple enough: projecting our city's image, creating jobs and expanding the economy. All these, plus integration with the mainland, tap into the construction of a high-speed rail line to the border to link up with a section running from suburban Guangzhou.

Making travel between Hong Kong and the mainland faster is in the interests of people on both sides of the border. The line would also link up with the wider-gauge, national high-speed network. But the project has nonetheless rightly raised concern.

The Hong Kong side of the line will, kilometre by kilometre, be the most expensive of its type in the world based on the present estimate of HK$39.5 billion - which is expected to increase, perhaps by as much as 50 per cent. Authorities have also been less than transparent about the scheme.

For the investment, we will get a terminus in West Kowloon and 26 kilometres of track. The high cost is down to most of the project being underground. Planners say that this is necessary because of Hong Kong's urban circumstances; too many buildings are in the way of the proposed line, and a railway station in the midst of the planned West Kowloon Cultural District would be unsightly. The Guangdong side of the line will be above ground.

The government originally promoted the project as a means of dramatically cutting travel time to Guangzhou. When the route was revealed, this proved not to be the case. As the last station will be at Shibi, in the city's Panyu district, the time difference with the present through train will be minimal: the business district is 18 stops away on Guangzhou's metro line. Traversing the 140,000 square metre terminus to transfer to other transport will also presumably be time-consuming.

Authorities have not been forthcoming with crucial details. Plans for the terminus have yet to be made public, even though it appears to account for half the cost. No indication has been given of the anticipated ticket price, or how long it will take for the project to break even. The operating cost has not been revealed. There has been no word on how the line will connect to the existing transport infrastructure.

The express rail link is among projects Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen unveiled as a means for Hong Kong to get out of recession. They will create jobs and move the economy forward. Some - the line among them - will further integration with the mainland. There is no doubt about the immediate benefits.

Hong Kong's built-up environment, geography and geology ensure that construction projects, big and small, are expensive. Given this, the government has to ensure that what it undertakes with public funding is good for Hong Kong. Plans have to have community backing. Public consultation and transparency are of the utmost importance.

The red tape that stymies large-scale infrastructure projects elsewhere in the world does not apply here. Years, not decades, lapse between conception and construction. Such ease demands that projects be thoroughly thought through. They must not be wasteful. Most importantly, they have to provide value for money.

Protesters derail cash talks with transport chief
14 October 2009
The Standard

Angry Shek Kong villagers last night caused chaos at a public consultation over a controversial rail link, branding the government as being insincere about compensating them for lost farmland and homes.

The confrontation with Secretary for Transport and Housing Eva Cheng Yu- wah took place in Choi Yuen Tsuen.

Cheng earlier said the government is considering raising the compensation for farmland from an average of HK$200 per square foot to HK$500.

She held three separate meetings with residents of Wang Toi Shan and Choi Yuen Tsuen in Shek Kong and Pat Heung in Yuen Long, all of whom will be affected by the proposed Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link.

Accompanying her was the Heung Yee Kuk chief Lau Wong-fat, who said he will help villagers find suitable alternative farmland.

At Choi Yuen Tsuen, about 20 protesters in green chanted slogans to interrupt Cheng's speech, saying they would never leave the village.

They also claimed her visit was just a show, adding that the government is ``insincere'' despite its promises.

Cheng said villagers would be offered reasonable alternatives, including public housing or transfers from temporary to permanent homes while ensuring proper use of taxpayers' money.

``I understand that the villagers have strong feelings about their homeland, but the express railway is extremely vital to the economic development of Hong Kong,'' she said, adding the current proposal would affect the least number of families.

Earlier, Cheng said compensation will be based on existing policies, but will include ``special arrangements'' depending on ``individual circumstances.''

Under the existing compensation policy, Class C farmlands will be compensated at HK$200 per square foot while those at Class A will get HK$500 psf.

The government is also considering compensation of between HK$3,000 and HK$10,000 for squatter hut residents not eligible for public housing.

Construction of the 26-kilometer Hong Kong line of the 140km rail link is scheduled to begin at the end of the year and be completed by 2015.

The line will bypass Choi Yuen Tsuen, although it will become the site of an emergency station, affecting about 150 villagers. West Kowloon is due to be the terminus in Hong Kong and Shibi in Guangzhou.Leung Kai-chi, part-time lecturer at the University of Hong Kong's department of geography, suggested the terminal station for Hong Kong be built at Kam Sheung Road in Yuen Long instead.

Leung said this would be more convenient for passengers.

Arrrrgh. They were the idiots that created HKIA:

Terminal 2... http://www.aedas.com/Asia/HKIATerminal2
North Satellite terminal... http://www.aedas.com/Asia/HKIANorthSatelliteTerminal
East Hall extension... http://www.aedas.com/Asia/HKIAEastHallExtension

:ohno::ohno::ohno:

Hehe

But ey, at least your airport is world-class and fucking huge. You wanna see worse, come visit our NAIA Terminal 1. It's so damn old and archaic to the point that John Lennon was still alive when that airport terminal opened. :lol:

Is express link on the wrong track?
Debate rages over the cost of connecting Hong Kong to the mainland's high-speed rail network.
1 November 2009
South China Morning Post

For a person who travels frequently between Guangzhou and Hong Kong, the news that a ride on the new HK$65.2 billion cross-border express will cost just HK$180 may sound exciting.

At HK$10 less than the present through train from Hung Hom to Guangzhou - condemned by some passengers as smelly and dirty - the link is an appealing prospect even if it does terminate 45 minutes from the centre of the provincial capital of Guangdong.

But despite government trumpeting of the benefits from links to the mainland's high-speed network - the value of which, it says, transcends mere money - a hard look at the proposals raises questions about just how good a deal it is for the community that will pay for it and how many people will actually benefit from it.

To put it in perspective, with the help of Lingnan University economics professor Ho Lok-sang, the price for the most expensive high-speed railway, per kilometre, ever built anywhere in the world:

Is equivalent to more than a quarter of the government's HK$244 billion expenditure for 2009-10;

Would pay for almost six of the HK$11 billion relief packages announced by Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen in last year's policy address;

Would pay for the estimated HK$20 billion construction and operating costs of more than three West Kowloon Cultural Districts;

Is HK$15.2 billion more than the HK$50 billion committed to medical financing;

Would eat up two years of the estimated HK$30 billion revenue from a 5 per cent goods and services tax - proposed in July 2006 but dropped in the face of public opposition; and

Is equivalent to almost 15 per cent of the city's fiscal reserves of HK$459 billion.

"No one opposes closer co-operation with the mainland. But the government must lower the cost," Ho says. "Nothing can justify doing it at all costs, except the survival of the human race."

The government estimates that, over 50 years of operation, the economic benefits of the railway - mainly attributed to time savings by travellers - will amount to HK$87 billion, with 11,000 jobs at the height of construction and 10,000 longer term.

Announcing Executive Council approval for the massive undertaking, it said the link would "help reinforce Hong Kong's status as a transport, financial and commercial hub" of China by providing a high-speed shuttle service between neighbouring cities and allowing Hong Kong to "tap into the 16,000-kilometre national high-speed railway network". The government also said it was keeping the fares low to enhance benefits to the community while not worrying too much about making a profit or getting its money back - which would take about 100 years on present estimates.

And indeed, the benefits of the line, officially the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Link, look attractive.

Apart from the HK$180 Guangzhou ride - less than a tenth of the amount some economists say would be needed to recoup the cost - it will cost HK$45 to get to Shenzhen's central business district of Futian and HK$49 to the industrial district of Longhua. Given the much higher speed and lack of commuter stops, this compares favourably with the HK$33 trip from Hung Hom to the Lo Wu border control point.

Hong Kong travellers will also be able to reach Shantou in two hours, Xiamen in four hours, Wuhan in five hours, Shanghai in eight hours and Beijing in 10.

But do all these justify a cost of almost HK$10,000 for every man, woman and child in Hong Kong?

And if they do, who will actually benefit most?

Not the two million-odd Hongkongers - 28 per cent of the population - who did not travel to the mainland once in the past five years, nor to any great extent the 4.6 million who did so occasionally.

On present travel patterns the biggest benefit will be to just 540,000 people who, according to the Planning Department's northbound-southbound 2007 study, are frequent cross-border travellers.

Of these, 18,100 travel at least once a week for work, 183,600 on business and 29,800 to visit family. The rest travel to Pearl River Delta towns for recreation.

To be fair, the government has said it expects cross-border travel to expand greatly in the coming years, with better transport and further integration between Hong Kong and Guangdong.

All things considered, Raymond So Wai-man, associate professor in Chinese University's finance department, thinks Hong Kong should build the line for one crucial reason - a lifeline to maintain its position in the mainland economy and achieve integration with Guangdong.

"If we don't build it, we will be marginalised," he says. "There is only one reason to build the railway - it is to buy a hope, a chance that we will not be marginalised."

But critics, even if they agree the line should be built, say it is too expensive and question why so much needs to be spent on the vast and expensive underground terminus in West Kowloon - almost half the total cost by some estimates.

"The government is withholding a lot of useful data from the public," said Ho of Lingnan University.

"Two sets of basic information have not been released. How many people will save journey time by making West Kowloon the terminus? How many people will have to take more time by making West Kowloon the terminus?"

West Kowloon was convenient for some people, not for everyone, he said, adding that the inconvenience of the Hung Hom terminus was one reason the present service was not more popular.

"The government has to justify why it is spending so much money while refusing to look into other options. We are not talking about the choice between high speed rail and no high speed rail. We are talking about whether we can do it more cheaply. The money we save could solve a lot of social problems."

Engineers say the main reason for the high cost is that most of the link, including the 140,000 square metre terminus, is being built underground.

One possible alternative has already been flatly rejected by the government, which says it is impracticable and its pricing unrealistic.

An engineers' organisation, Professional Commons, proposed moving the Hong Kong terminus to Kam Sheung Road in the New Territories, from where passengers could travel to the city by West Rail, cutting the overall cost of the scheme to HK$25 billion. Included in the price - proposed at a time when the government's estimate for its plan was just HK$39.5 billion - would be a line to connect Kam Sheung Road station with the Airport Express at Tsing Yi.

Group chairman Albert Lai said a Kam Sheung Road terminus would be in easy reach of 3.5 million people, including New Territories residents.

"The beauty of a city-centre terminus in West Kowloon is only a mirage. The planning constraints we have created in the past will make the terminus costly to build and inconvenient to use. Worse still, the over-congestion it generates will be many times worse than what Times Square has done to Causeway Bay. Planning disasters like these are simply irreversible once built," Lai said.

The terminus will be a state-of-the-art structure, with three levels all below ground. The 26 kilometre link that runs from it will pass through twin tunnels and under Golden Hill, Tai Mo Shan and Kai Kung Leng hills.

Even though he thinks the line should be built, So distrusts the government's projected employment benefits and economic returns, which also include an economic rate of return - calculated by putting a dollar value on time savings - of 6 per cent and annual operating profit of about HK$600 million.

"It is reasonable to discount what the government proclaims. The economic returns you can discount by half. And the employment, 10,000 jobs, is, I think, including the employment created by the West Kowloon Cultural District. If it doesn't paint a rosy picture, how can [the government] convince people to support it?" To recoup the cost, he says, the fare would have to be HK$2,000 per journey.

Those who mistrust government projections can point to Disneyland where the figures have, to put it unkindly, proved to be Mickey Mouse.

The HK$21 billion deal between the government and the Walt Disney Company was predicted to boost the economy by HK$148 billion over 40 years, eight times the total cost. The then chief executive Tung Chee-hwa called it a vote of confidence in the city and its future.

The reality is very different. Only about five million people visited the park in 2005, its first year of operation, short of the 5.6 million target. Ten years after the deal was signed, the government now says Disneyland will bring HK$64.7 billion in net economic benefits over 40 years.

The 140 kilometre link from West Kowloon to Shibi in the satellite city of Panyu includes intermediate stations at Futian and Longhua in Shenzhen, and Humen in Dongguan . Two stations - Gongming in Dongguan and Dongcong in Panyu - will be added later.

It will take just 48 minutes to reach Shibi from West Kowloon, but passengers whose destination is Guangzhou's business district of Tianhe will have to transit to the metro and ride another 18 stops.

Construction is due to start by the end of this year and be completed in 2015.

One reason for the government's desire to get started is that it is lagging behind the mainland side, with the Panyu terminus expected to be completed early next year. Hong Kong's late start has prompted taunts from across the border about the city being half-hearted towards the link.

Professor Zheng Tianxiang , a transport specialist at Guangzhou's Sun Yat-sen University and a strong advocate of closer cross-border co-operation, was thrilled by the news that the project had been approved.

"It will be very convenient in the future," he said after watching the news on television. He said Hongkongers would be able to go to Zhuhai and Nansha by rail. "Railway transport is more reliable [than ferries or coaches]. It will be not affected by bad weather, such as typhoons."

But Zheng thinks the express will eventually sound the death knell for the through train.

"The through train looks ridiculously expensive now. Unless it cuts prices, it is not going to survive. But it is not going to cut prices because otherwise, the passengers will not go to the high speed rail. The move is so obvious - the Hong Kong government wants to boost the high speed rail's popularity." he said.

Engineers to be consulted over HK$65b rail link
22 October 2009
SCMP

Lawmakers will consider the views of an engineers' group that has called for cost-slashing changes to the planned cross-border express rail link before deciding whether to approve funding for the HK$65.2 billion project

The Legislative Council's railway subcommittee will meet today to discuss the final design for the project and the latest estimate - a 65 per cent blowout from the original HK$39.5 billion - which is set to provide an annual financial return of just one per cent.

Professional Commons, the engineers' group which says billions of dollars could be saved if the terminus was moved from West Kowloon to Kam Sheung Road in the New Territories, has asked to be heard before lawmakers vote on the project.

Civic Party legislator Ronny Tong Ka-wah said he would raise the request at today's meeting, adding that lawmakers should not give approval easily before considering the group's proposal.

"We should find out why the terminus and alignment cannot be changed," Tong said. He said moving the terminus would halve the cost and the village of Tsoi Yuen Chuen, where residents are opposing plans to remove them to make way for a depot, would be saved.

The Transport and Housing Bureau has said the group's proposal would involve even more land clearance than the present plan and the cost was likely to be much higher than the HK$25 billion the engineers estimated.

The rise in the link's cost has not only pushed down the economic rate of return - calculated by putting a dollar value on time savings - from nine per cent to six per cent, but it will take the government 100 years to recover the cost, given an expected annual profit of about HK$600 million a year.

The MTR usually requires a financial rate of return on its new railway projects of between 1 to 3 per cent after deducting investment and operational costs.

The administration has never calculated this figure but the expected annual profit against the total capital cost of HK$65.2 billion works out to less than 1 per cent.

A government official said the project was obviously not commercially viable, which was why a service-concession approach was adopted, with the government paying for and owning the line while the MTR Corporation operated it.

The compensation package for villagers affected by the project has also turned out to be much higher than expected.

The government said on Tuesday that spending on compensation cost HK$86 million but it was disclosed yesterday that this did not include a special HK$2 billion compensation package for land owners.

Secretary for Transport and Housing Eva Cheng said the unusually generous compensation offer was justified because of the link's importance. "It is a multi-functional railway," she said. "It takes you quickly and conveniently to 16 major cities on the mainland. It will reshape travel patterns, with choosing the environmentally-friendly link over short-haul flights."

Cheng reiterated that the link was intended to be profitable and that the economic benefits it would bring to the community in areas such as tourism were incalculable.

When the link starts service in 2016, it will take 14 minutes and cost HK$45 and HK$49 to Futian and Longhua in Shenzhen, while a trip to Shibi in Guangzhou will take 42 minutes and cost HK$180.

With these fares, the link is expected to hit hard the existing MTR through train to Guangzhou, which costs HK$190 for an almost two-hour journey, and also cross-border buses, which have similar fares but are much slower.

Sammy Chow Hing-wong, chairman of the Hong Kong Guangdong Boundary Crossing Bus Association, said up to 70 per cent of the companies now operating bus trips to Guangzhou may be wiped out.

"Competition is out of the question - a bus trip from Jordan to Guangzhou takes three and a half hours, so businessmen will surely switch to rail."

Government figures project that most cross-border transport services will still enjoy growth by 2016 - especially cross-border buses, for which officials expect patronage to rise by 6.6 per cent, with more people crossing the border.

But Chow doubted this.

"First, I don't believe the number of people going across the border will bounce so much in eight years. Second, if there is an increase in commuters, the growth will go mostly to the rail link," he said.

Who is paying for the advitorials / sponsored features in the local papers saying through train is ....

Well excellent and how could Hong Kong survive without it?

Normally it is obvious who pays for an advert but not with these.

Is it tTax payers money or central Gov or Train Lobby or MTRC or Tunnelling company or ...?

Is the project that bad that such large advertising campaigns are needed to try to sway public opinion? Is there an example of another project where this tactic has been used?

Panyu rail hub set to shift focal point of Guangzhou by 2020, academic says
6 November 2009
SCMP

When the first train from Hong Kong on the controversial express line to Guangzhou stops at the terminus in Shibi, Panyu, it will have arrived at the nucleus of a burgeoning new city, part of the provincial capital's southward expansion.

In 2015, when the Hong Kong section of the line is due for completion, a 350km/h line to Wuhan will have been operating for three years and by 2020 the station - one of Asia's biggest with a footprint of 150,000 square metres - will encompass three such high-speed lines to key cities, a light-rail system and three metro lines.

And this, according to Professor Zheng Tianxiang, is why Hongkongers should be pleased - not unhappy - that their HK$65 billion line will terminate at Shibi rather than the present city centre at Tianhe, which he says will eventually be eclipsed by new developments.

Zheng, of the Pearl River Delta research centre at Zhongshan University, and MTR Corporation officials sang the praises of Shibi during a media tour to the site organised by the MTR this week.

"Some Hong Kong intellectuals ask why the high-speed train station was not located in downtown Guangzhou," Zheng said. "But the area around the existing Guangzhou East Station has little land for further development, and if you acquire lots of land to build a train station in downtown Guangzhou, it wouldn't be very economical or efficient."

He said central government studies predicted that the population of the Tianhe district would grow from one million in 2005 to 1.39 million in 2020, while the population of Panyu district around Shibi would grow from 1.25 million in 2005 to 2.03 million in 2020.

As Guangzhou developed, the centre of the city would shift south towards Shibi and the district around Guangzhou East Station would no longer be a growth area, Zheng said.

He also echoed the Hong Kong government's line that the links to the national rail network were more important than direct access to the present city centre - 45 minutes by metro from the new terminus.

"Hong Kong wants to be an international city and China's hub. If Hong Kong doesn't link to China's high-speed rail, it will be hard to achieve this," said Zheng, a consultant for various infrastructure projects in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta including the Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai Bridge.

By 2012, that link will be right on the border - waiting for Hong Kong trains to roll through three years later - as high-speed trains from Beijing through Wuhan and Shibi reach Futian in Shenzhen.

By 2020, as well as the Hong Kong-Guangzhou express line and the Wuhan-Guangzhou line, Shibi will include a westward railway that will branch into two lines, one to Guizhou and one to Nanning .

The 200 billion yuan (HK$227.33 billion), 2,000-kilometre light railway will serve nine cities in the Pearl River Delta, including Guangzhou, Dongguan , Shenzhen, Zhongshan , Zhuhai and Foshan . By 2020, Guangdong would have 2,800 kilometres of high-speed rail line at a cost of 150 million yuan per kilometre, or a total of 420 billion yuan, Zheng said.

MTR Pearl River Delta planning manager Albert Yuen acknowledged that progress on the Hong Kong section - still bedevilled by compensation wrangles - seemed slow.

"It would be much faster in China. In China you can work 24 hours per day, while Hong Kong has restrictions on work due to noise and environment," Yuen said.

MTR Express Rail Link general manager Paul Lo Po-hing said that initially the MTR would acquire nine high-speed trains of eight cars each for a total cost of between HK$1 billion and HK$2 billion. Eventually this would increase to more than 20 trains. High-speed trains would depart from Hong Kong every 15 minutes during peak times and every 30 minutes off-peak, Lo said.

Meanwhile, a survey by the Civic Party has indicated that 41 per cent of Hong Kong residents think there has been inadequate public consultation about the rail plan.

In a poll of 650 residents, only 20 per cent of respondents thought there had been enough consultation. Another 38 per cent had no opinion.

The survey also found that 18 per cent of respondents were in favour of building the terminus in West Kowloon, while 55 per cent believed it could be built elsewhere.

Thousands to feel the noise from rail link construction
Many pupils, elderly residents have not been told of project
9 November 2009
South China Morning Post

Tens of thousands of people living and working along the controversial new cross-border high-speed railway - including many living in multimillion-dollar luxury apartments - face years of noise pollution.

An MTR Corporation environmental impact assessment report produced this year says that at least 65 commercial and residential buildings will be hit by noise during the construction of the line, which will last until 2015.

Most of the affected buildings are in West Kowloon, Nam Cheong and Shek Kong, with noise coming from the massive drilling and blasting works required to complete the line's underground stations and tunnel.

Developments worth more than HK$10,000 per square foot in The Arch, another in The Waterfront and one block in the Sorrento above Kowloon Station will all face noise levels above the acceptable 75 decibels during construction, despite sound-proofing measures.

Engineers say 70 to 75dB of noise is equivalent to having a busy road directly outside an apartment.

The 26-kilometre Hong Kong section will be built entirely underground and run from the West Kowloon terminus to the mainland via Mong Kok, Kwai Tsing District, Tsuen Wan and Mai Po.

Despite construction getting under way by the end of the year, residents in the areas to be affected have not received information about the potential noise impact.

The Executive Council has given approval to the cross-border express railway with a price tag of HK$65.2 billion. Land owners from Tsoi Yuen Tsuen first drew the public's attention to the railway when they began protesting about the demolition of their homes to make way for a depot.

The MTR Corp's environmental impact assessment report named several areas - described as noise-sensitive zones - that would most likely be affected by noise. The report shows public housing estates, homes for the elderly, village houses, schools and luxury flats within the zones.

It recommends that for homes for the elderly, construction noise, after mitigation measures, should not exceed 70dB, the equivalent of the noise generated by a vacuum cleaner. It also sets the daytime construction-noise maximum for schools at 65dB during examinations and 70dB during normal school hours.

However, the report predicts that Ying Wa College, Sham Shui Po, will suffer noise of up to 70dB; Yaumati Catholic Primary School up to 74dB; and that noise pollution at HKIVE Haking Wong Waterfront Annex on Lai Chi Kok Road may exceed the recommended maximum by 3dB to 7dB for about 34 months.

Luxury developments in West Kowloon are not to be spared. Sky Tower at The Arch will have noise levels of up to 70dB, while its neighbouring Moon Tower will suffer up to 76dB. Tower 3 of The Waterfront on top of Kowloon Station will hear levels of up to 78dB.

The report also points out that after the line opens the residents of Shui Hong Nursing Home at Cheung Shan Estate, Kwai Chung, will face continuing noise from a ventilation shaft about 75 metres away. Chan Wing-hung, a social worker at the home, expressed concern for the health of the 100 residents aged 60 to 96. "I have not yet received any notice about the rail. We will study the impact if we are informed and, if problems affect us, we will speak out."

Ying Wa College has 1,200 pupils and its primary section, Ying Wa Primary School, has 1,000. But principal Roger Lee Chee-wah said he had little information on how the project would affect the school.

"Our school has not yet received any consultation on the railway. I have not yet received phone calls or letters," he said. "The predicted noise of 70 decibels falls within the criteria. But {hellip} the standard should be stricter for schools. Students need a quiet environment for learning."

The situation was somewhat different at HKIVE Haking Wong, a vocational training school. Principal Winnie Ngan Shuk-yin said the annex on Lai Chi Kok Road was used as an electrical workshop. "Representatives of related parties had meetings with us. We also agreed that the construction works would be temporarily suspended if needed. Actually, students do drilling at the workshop, which also creates noise. So the rail works would not affect us much."

Fu Cheong Estate, across the road from Ying Wa College, has two blocks expected to be affected by construction noise. But nine of 10 residents interviewed said they had no idea on how construction work would affect their lives.

Leung Kin-hoi, 25, who lives with her husband and child at the estate, said she was worried about the impact on health. "I have not heard of construction works near my estate. I worry that it might affect my child's studies and health. Noise would disturb my child's sleep," she said.

Kenny Wong Kai-ming, 22, who lives in Tower 1 of The Waterfront, said he did not know the location of the railway but was concerned that the noise might disturb his studies.

The report said the contractor should liaise with schools and avoid noisy construction work during examinations. It also recommended that mitigation measures such as silencers and mufflers be used on construction equipment.

Peter Wong Yiu-sun, a former president of the Institute of Engineers, said that the heavy machinery used in the early stages of construction would be quite noisy.

"Preparation of the construction site, especially moving heavy machines or drilling the first hole in the ground, will cause noise," he said.

"But the impact also depends on ambient noise and the distance of affected parties from the source of the noise."

Maggie So Man-kit, senior manager of projects and property communications at the MTR Corp, said equipment and site practices would aim to keep noise to a minimum. However, there would be times when noise would be unavoidable.

She said the contractors would be instructed to work with schools and community facilities such as nursing homes, and that public forums and meetings with owners committees had been organised. The committees of the properties on top of Kowloon Station had been informed via their management offices.

MTR Corp general manager of the express rail link, Paul Lo Po-hing, pledged the company would take all measures possible to reduce environmental noise and vibration from the project.

"We have to submit the environmental assessment report before the construction. We have to get the permit before starting construction. In the permit, we would outline the measures to be taken," he said.

Meanwhile, the Transport and Housing Bureau said it would ensure the project complied with the conditions on the environmental permits.

50 households stand in way of HK's high-speed link construction
6 November 2009
SCMP

The MTR Corporation is hoping to start building the Hong Kong section of the high speed train service through to Guangzhou by the end of the year, but a third of the affected households have still not signed up for the compensation plan.

"We hope the government will make the final decision and allow us to start construction by the end of this year," said Paul Lo Po-hing, the MTR Express Rail Link general manager. The Hong Kong section of the project will affect about 150 households, mainly villagers in the New Territories. The government was offering them compensation for giving up their homes, Lo said.

So far, only 100 households had registered with the compensation plan.

MTR Pearl River Delta planning manager Albert Yuen said: "The chief executive will make a decision about the [link]. But they need to move out."

If some residents refused to move, the government could legally force them out, Yuen said. While residents can seek legal action to stay put, chances of winning their case are slim.

Opinion : Why Hong Kong needs an express rail link
15 November 2009
SCMP

It was interesting to read the comments by Raymond So Wai-man, of Chinese University, on the new high speed connection to Guangzhou ("Is express link on the wrong track?", November 1).

It has been almost 100 years since the Hong Kong section of the Kowloon to Canton railway opened in April 1910, and to much the same criticisms as today. It was the most expensive railway per kilometre built in the world at that time. How could it make a profit? The governor, Sir Frederick Lugard, fought the British and Chinese governments and Legco on costs and benefits. His vision was that "Hong Kong should be the final outlet of the main trunk railway in China".

The existing rail link to Guangzhou is totally unsuitable for the 21st century. Hong Kong needs a fast link to other parts of southern China for business and tourism, and a station that deserves the status of China's southern terminus. The best stations are near the centre of a city, and they are easily accessible and cut down travelling times. They must give the many travellers that will come to Hong Kong from all over China the service they deserve. That makes it expensive, but it has to reap rewards for the future, and be ready for the next 100 years.

We have one of the best airports in the world; let's have the vision to do the same with the rail link.

Rory O'Grady, Kowloon Tong

http://www.takungpao.com/common/resize.asp?img=/news/images/09/11/18/GW-91.jpg

http://www.hkdailynews.com.hk/images/18112009/18hf3b.jpg
廣深港高速鐵路香港段的西九龍總站，內外設計曝光。總站設計着重綠化，車站大堂前設有園林廣場，連同周邊綠化地帶，綠化區總公共空間最少達到2.5公頃。市民更可沿綠化步行區，分別步行前往港鐵九龍站、 柯士甸站及西九龍文化區。

坐落西九龍文化區以北的高鐵香港段總站，介乎柯士甸站和九龍站之間，是一個設有4層的地下車站；包括售票大堂、入境層、離境層和月台層。總站佔地約11公頃，總樓面面積達38萬平方米，包括600多個車位；相等於兩個多香港站。

港鐵高鐵項目總經理羅普慶(圖)昨介紹說，高鐵西九龍總站的設計以綠化為主，綠化區總公共空間達2.5公頃。其中車站公眾大堂前將設有一個近9,000平方米的園林廣場，供市民休憩之用，連接柯士甸道西上的綠化步行區，可步行前往西九龍文化區。車站大堂北端連接天橋跨過佐敦道，連接公共交通交匯處上的綠化平台及以北的樹林公園。

羅普慶續稱，西九龍總站頂部採用玻璃採光設計，陽光更可直達地下3層到離境層的候車處，讓旅客更舒適。

已預留地方作一地兩檢
此外，西九龍總站的設計亦方便旅客，雖然政府指高鐵通車初期難以實施一地兩檢，但羅普慶說，港鐵已在入境及離境層，預留共2.8萬平方米的地方，供日後實施一地兩檢，並可設立共約144個過關櫃位。同時，車站內設有9個長途月台和6個短途月台，分別供16卡列車和8卡列車使用。他又說，現時構思車站不會通宵行車，但不排除日後可視乎需要，考慮24小時行車。

立法會鐵路事宜小組委員會，昨亦討論高鐵西九龍總站的選址和配套問題。當局將進行一系列道路及行人路改善工程，連接總站、西九龍文化區、柯士甸站等，大部分工程將於2015年前完工。運輸署稱，未來會興建連接柯士甸道及連翔道的地下車道，分流西九龍文化區、高鐵總站和九龍站的車流。

料通車初期每日客量9.9萬
政府預計，廣深港高鐵在2016年通車後，初期每日會有9.9萬人次旅客乘搭高鐵，預計營運收益超過11億元。

運輸及房屋局局長鄭汝樺說，政府現時的預測是非常保守，即使乘客量低於預期，營運方面出現虧損的可能性不大，相信政府不用作出補貼。
港鐵設計經理阮頌藩又預計，將來有50%到西九龍總站乘搭高鐵的乘客，會透過鐵路接駁高鐵，超過30%人以私家車接駁。

Is it too much to ask for a starchitect to design the terminal?

I would be very impressed if it ends up looking like that. Roof landscaping + curvy glassy building = win.

Why does a single track out & single destination train station need to be so big?

As an endpoint I think it will host at least several trains at a time. Train should have some downtime @ HK for cleaning and minor maintenance.

Yah according to the pictures above looks like it would have about 8 platforms?

There will be 14 platforms; the breakdown will be 6 short-haul platforms and 8 long-haul platforms. What kind of development the parabolic-shape plot of land directly north of Union Square will have eventually?

What are the potential destinations for 14 platforms? This seems to be an white elephant sat in a Trophy. Shenzhen will be a shuttle 'back and too' commuter train similar to Maglev in Shanghai with 5-6 min load / unload time so that is one platform. Long distance another platform what about the other 12? Building spare capacity in is sensible but by a factor of six! Is the Government spending its citizens money wisely?

Is the Government spending its citizens money wisely?

To quote myself, emphasis err... mine: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=44414832&postcount=166

Here's an interesting proposal from The Professional Commons (includes Paul Zimmerman of "Designing Hong Kong" fame):

http://www.procommons.org.hk/?p=2643
Opening remark: http://www.procommons.org.hk/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Opening-Remark-by-Mr.-George-Cautherley.pdf
PDF: http://www.procommons.org.hk/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Express_Rail_Link_Report.pdf
Powerpoint: http://www.procommons.org.hk/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/ERL_Powerpoint_English.pdf

Basically, this reduces the cost from HK$63billion to HK$25billion and relocates the HSR terminus to Kam Sheung Road (West Rail). At this new terminus would be an easy interchange to the regular metro network (West Rail) and a proposed AEL spur link from Tsing Yi, as apparently the AEL and TCL only share tracks on the Tsing Ma bridge, so the Tsing Yi-Kowloon-Hong Kong section has capacity to spare allowing AEL trains to run from Kam Sheung Road.

Also, for intercity journeys, travellers going via Kowloon or Hong Kong can use the in-town check-in. I could also see the potential in adding in-town check-in at Tsing Yi too.

Anyway, the cash saved (HK$43billion) would fund the Shatin-Central link (HK$37.4billion) and South Island Line (HK$7billion) pretty much completely. This is the sort of lateral thinking I approve of and more people should be screaming at the useless HK Govt. to go with an option link this.

... and Chinese version: http://www.procommons.org.hk/?p=2643&lang=zh
PDF: http://www.procommons.org.hk/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/%E6%96%B0%E9%AB%98%E9%90%B5%E3%80%8C%E8%B2%AB%E9%80%9A%E5%8D%97%E5%8C%97%E6%96%B9%E6%A1%88%E3%80%8D.pdf
Powerpoint: http://www.procommons.org.hk/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/ERL_Powerpoint_Chinese.pdf

Or to put it in another non-railway related context, it would allow sending 20,000 (twenty thousand) underprivileged Hong Kong kids to Eton College for 5 years (USD46,000/pupil/year... ~HKD350,000/pupil/year, total HKD35billion), complete with very generous living expenses at ~USD38,000/pupil/year.

The entire HK section of the current proposal is nothing but an extremely blatant transfer of wealth from the citzens of HK into the pockets of the construction firms and operators.

Indeed, the cost is truly outrageous. On the other hand, why not treat the station as HKIA´s dedicated runway to the southern China? The crowded local airspace will never let all of the HKIA runways be used to their maximum capacity. The airport runways should be used for wide-bodied intercontinental and Asia-Pacific flights as often as possible. Let´s hope that the truly foolish Hong Kong - Shenzhen airport link will not be built.

To quote myself, emphasis err... mine: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=44414832&postcount=166

The NOL line linking NT West to LMC and Lowu would cost about $14b and probably negate the need to have a high speed rail link in Hong Kong.

The NOL line linking NT West to LMC and Lowu would cost about $14b and probably negate the need to have a high speed rail link in Hong Kong.

Heck, you could probably build the HSR station for HK at the Lok Ma Chau Loop. The HK section of the line would only be about 200 meters (:nuts:), so the cost would only be the cost of the station and setting up some people movers to Lok Ma Chau station to link up with West Rail and future NOL. :D

or just extend the NOL into Futian to meet the China HSR lime - One country and all that. Might add 3-4 mins to the journey time but still faster overall than the HSR proposal.

Haw many platforms will the Shenzhen station have?

^^ 8 platforms

http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A6%8F%E7%94%B0%E7%AB%99

or just extend the NOL into Futian to meet the China HSR lime - One country and all that. Might add 3-4 mins to the journey time but still faster overall than the HSR proposal.

Surely what's in Shenzhen, is Shenzhen Metro's problem? ;) Though let's not mention the whole Hong Kong-Shenzhen metropolis merging idea that got floated about by HK & Shenzhen bureaucrats... as that would no doubt entail the merging of HK MTR with Shenzhen Metro... :nuts:

New rail station `like having another airport'
The Standard
Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The West Kowloon terminal for the Express Rail Link will be more than two-thirds the size of the Hong Kong Airport Terminal 1, though much of it will be underground.

It will feature greener designs and be packed with energy-saving devices, although the upper floor and roof will use glass panels to allow as much natural light as possible, MTR Express Rail Link general manager Paul Lo Po-hing said yesterday.

The four-story building will provide more open spaces and green zones at ground level, instead of the conventional wall effect of a tall building, with nine platforms for long-haul trains and six for short- haul, 144 immigration counters and 600 car parks to accommodate 10,000 travelers per hour.

The company has also reserved an area for a one-stop immigration clearance point.

The gross floor area is around 380,000 square meters.

"It will be like having another airport in terms of its size and function," design manager Frank Yuen Cheung-fan said.

Yuen said the size of the station is more than 70 percent of the airport's Terminal 1 and more than double Hong Kong Station.

He said each section of the station is designed to facilitate the movement of passengers from the train platforms via immigration and customs to the station exits.

Lo said: "Outside the station, we will build a network so passengers can walk to nearby destinations or to take public transport.

"For instance, we will build footbridges, subways and a plaza deck over Austin Road West connecti
ng Austin Station, West Kowloon Cultural District and Kowloon Station."

Lo also pointed out that customers using the West Kowloon facility will differ from the average MTR commuter because they will be mainly long- haul travelers who may need to spend a longer time inside the station.

To cater to their needs, around 30,000 sq m will be reserved for commercial use, such as duty-free shops, restaurants and food courts.

Construction of the station, part of the HK$55 billion Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link project, will begin at the end of the year and is scheduled to be completed in 2015.

*bashes head against brick wall*

The HKSAR Govt. is fucking useless...

why oh why is it so grandiose?

It is just a train station.

It is all very confusing why public money is being wasted by this administration on building 'grand' projects rather than simple functional projects.

It would appear that they have no fear of being de-selected by the people.

With 9 platforms for long-haul trains and 5 platforms for short haul??? so other than Guangzhou and shenzhen, will there be scheduled services between HK and some other major cities like Wuhan, Shanghai or even Beijing?

With an estimated turn-around time of 15 mins (probably 6 mins on the shuttle service bewteen KW and SZ) that means a train would be leaving every around every minute when at full capacity. Can a single track cope with frequency or is the project out of control from the start?

How many platforms at the Humen station?

With 9 platforms for long-haul trains and 5 platforms for short haul??? so other than Guangzhou and shenzhen, will there be scheduled services between HK and some other major cities like Wuhan, Shanghai or even Beijing?

Yes.

I am sure there are going to be service to Shanghai and Beijing, as there are today. As time goes, I believe other destinations are possible.

Yes.

I am sure there are going to be service to Shanghai and Beijing, as there are today. As time goes, I believe other destinations are possible.

Just found this article on internet :)

鄭汝樺：高鐵非「駁腳艇仔」
(星島)2009年9月24日 星期四 05:30
(綜合報道)

(星島日報 報道)廣深港高速鐵路並非「駁腳艇仔」，是真正與國家高鐵經濟接軌的項目。運輸及房屋局 局長鄭汝樺 接受本報訪問透露，按目前國家高速鐵路網規劃，高鐵港段落成後，乘客毋須在廣州或深圳 轉駁內地高鐵線，一車直達北京 、上海 、鄭州、成都等十六個內地主要城市，「是在西九龍上車，不停站，十小時直達北京先落車」，每日目標合共對發三十三對列車。她指出，高鐵將帶動內地客來港，促進六大產業發展。

　　記者：陳意婷

　　國家的「四縱四橫」高速鐵路網正進行得如火如荼，全國高鐵總長足達一萬二千公里以上。鄭汝樺昨日表示，擬建的廣深港高速鐵路走線正好與國家高鐵網的其中「兩縱」相連，其中深圳龍華站與國家杭福深客運專線相連；廣州石壁站就與國家京廣客運專線接駁。將來高鐵香港段落城後，除了有直通車接通深圳及廣州，更會有長途直通車直達北京、上海、鄭州、成都等十六個內地主要城市。

　　不停站十小時到北京

　　「目標是在二○一六年高鐵落成，就已經有直通車去到這十六個城市！」她指出，長途直通車的每日對發數目為三十三對，但相信在通車初期數目較少，部分城市會一日一對，武漢等較大的城市就會一日兩對，至於需求最高的上海、北京則會每日多達五對列車。再加上每十五分鐘一班往深圳的列車，以及每三十分鐘一班往石壁的列車，在西九龍總站每天往來的列車估計多達過百對。倘客量需求大更再可加密班次。

　　日後本港高鐵系統更會仿效日本 鐵路模式，設特急、急行、快速及普通列車之分。鄭汝樺解釋，例如往深圳龍華、虎門等站的就會「站站停」；往廣州石壁站就已有不停站列車，確保乘客四十八分鐘到抵廣州；往十六個內地城市的長途直通車，有者只停少量中途站，有者甚至會不停站直達目的地。而短途列車一列擬設八卡，載客量達到六百人，長途的更預計會多出一倍，「真的一列列內地客送來香港參加展覽，見銀行家、律師、旅遊等」，他們帶來的龐大經濟效益是無法計算的。

　　不會成虧損「大白象」

　　兩個月前，港府更已由路政署牽頭，與國家鐵道部成立一個常設的專家小組，專門合作研究長途直通車的建築標準、維修、位置設定等細節。鄭汝樺強調，外界毋須擔心本港高鐵會成為台灣 高鐵的翻版，成為虧損「大白象」，因為一則台灣高鐵只行走於台灣本土範圍之內，而本港高鐵則是接駁高經濟增長的內地市場；其次是台灣高鐵因客量不足，加上債台高築，招至虧損，但本港高鐵是由政府全資興建，無欠債之憂。

　　鄭汝樺重申：「高鐵真的要上馬了，不應再受其他議題所牽絆，高鐵是一個長遠策略性經濟發展，打通本港與內地高鐵經濟命脈的項目」，有助長遠帶動本港及內地的經濟活動。

Guangzhou is definitely going to be the biggest transfer hub in Guangdong Province, no doubt about it, but not necessarily the most important terminal for intra-major cities service.

As HK being one of the southern most cities in China, HK can really serve as the final stop of many intra-major cities service, such as Shanghai, Beijing etc. etc. All there long haul HSR can have a stop at GZ or SZ for transfer, and just act as another train between HK, SZ and GZ during the day. People going to and coming from second tier cities or other branches can transfer at GZ.

Guangzhou is definitely going to be the biggest transfer hub in Guangdong Province, no doubt about it, but not necessarily the most important terminal for intra-major cities service.

As HK being one of the southern most cities in China, HK can really serve as the final stop of many intra-major cities service, such as Shanghai, Beijing etc. etc. All there long haul HSR can have a stop at GZ or SZ for transfer, and just act as another train between HK, SZ and GZ during the day. People going to and coming from second tier cities or other branches can transfer at GZ.

Do you know whether Guangzhou Baiyun and Shenzhen Baoan Airport are close to HSR stations? I think it's possible for HKIA to benefit from HSR if the airport in Guangzhou and Shenzhen are not close to the stations.

...for intra-major cities service.

As a prefix, "Intra" means "within." "Intra-city" (railway) services are mass transit railway/commuter train services.

HSR tracks are usually constructed to handle INTER-city railway transportation. Examples include London-Paris, Tokyo-Osaka, Beijing-Shanghai train services, etc.

As a prefix, "Intra" means "within." "Intra-city" (railway) services are mass transit railway/commuter train services.

HSR tracks are usually constructed to handle INTER-city railway transportation. Examples include London-Paris, Tokyo-Osaka, Beijing-Shanghai train services, etc.

Come on... what's the point of picking others' english mistakes?

Do you know whether Guangzhou Baiyun and Shenzhen Baoan Airport are close to HSR stations? I think it's possible for HKIA to benefit from HSR if the airport in Guangzhou and Shenzhen are not close to the stations.

Don't think so. The new super terminus is south of Guangzhou, and the Shenzhen station is in Futian.

Do you know whether Guangzhou Baiyun and Shenzhen Baoan Airport are close to HSR stations? I think it's possible for HKIA to benefit from HSR if the airport in Guangzhou and Shenzhen are not close to the stations.

Don't think so. The new super terminus is south of Guangzhou, and the Shenzhen station is in Futian.

Baiyun and Shibi are to the north and to the south of Guangzhou on the opposite side of city centre; and Futian is just north of Lok Ma Chau.

Straight line measurement from Google says Futian and Baoan is ~28km, a little further than distance between W Kowloon and HKIA. Shibi and Baiyun is ~40km apart.

In reality, HK's HSR terminus is going to be the closest to the local airport in distance, and as far as I know it is the only has another express rail line connecting the airports and HSR termini. Haven't heard anything from GZ or SZ to build a express line between the airport and HSR.

As HK being one of the southern most cities in China, HK can really serve as the final stop of many intra-major cities service, such as Shanghai, Beijing etc. etc. All there long haul HSR can have a stop at GZ or SZ for transfer, and just act as another train between HK, SZ and GZ during the day. People going to and coming from second tier cities or other branches can transfer at GZ.

Good idea, but it can only be realised if Mainland immigration process is also done in West Kowloon Terminus. It may also create a bit trouble when Mainland passengers come to HK unintentionally (i.e. forget to get off the train at GZ/SZ), arrangement to make them back to GZ/SZ is needed.

why oh why is it so grandiose?

It is just a train station.

It is all very confusing why public money is being wasted by this administration on building 'grand' projects rather than simple functional projects.

It would appear that they have no fear of being de-selected by the people.

What scale or how simple do you suggest the design and layout of a main train terminus of a city to be which is expected to process 99,000 passengers a day when opening, and 160,000 15 years later?

Spend some time to view photos of main train stations in other cities around Skyscrapercity.com you will have an answer yourself.

If Hong Kong have trouble taking out money for this train station, China should just help out.

What scale or how simple do you suggest the design and layout of a main train terminus of a city to be which is expected to process 99,000 passengers a day when opening, and 160,000 15 years later?


Doesn't Admiralty handle the same projected numbers in an hour as HSR plans to handle in a day and is probably a 10th of the size.

Hong Hum will be able to manage 1,000,000 passengers per day and is a fraction of the size. http://www.atkins.com.cn/hongkong/areas_of_business/projects/rail_infrastructure_passenger.htm

Currently the streets of Prince Edward and a number of Hotels around HK handle that many passengers in cross boundary buses every day and desperately need a bus terminus to facilitate passenger ease of usage and to lower ticket costs through enhanced competition.

The original proposal was for a simple station next to Austin Station. If that could cope with passenger numbers why does it now need to be a large shopping centre come train station. Unlike many other train stations that have hundreds of destinations to serve this one the vast majority will get off at the next stop. People argue it is just a trophy project to increase shopping centre revenue and force passengers to arrrive next to ill fated West Kowloon government culture area.

Doesn't Admiralty handle the same projected numbers in an hour as HSR plans to handle in a day and is probably a 10th of the size.

Hong Hum will be able to manage 1,000,000 passengers per day and is a fraction of the size. http://www.atkins.com.cn/hongkong/ar..._passenger.htm


I suggested you to refer to main station of other cities, not those congested local urban underground stations. Probably I need to add the comparison is more meaningful with inter-cities or international stations overseas as well. Why don't you compare with stations in Africa or India? Do you consider visitors to Hong Kong deserve to have an inter-city travel experience like the highly congested Admiralty and Hung Hom stations?

Currently the streets of Prince Edward and a number of Hotels around HK handle that many passengers in cross boundary buses every day and desperately need a bus terminus to facilitate passenger ease of usage and to lower ticket costs through enhanced competition.

This current situation is a shame of Hong Kong. So I believe you don't want to create another shame for Hong Kong.

The original proposal was for a simple station next to Austin Station. If that could cope with passenger numbers why does it now need to be a large shopping centre come train station. Unlike many other train stations that have hundreds of destinations to serve this one the vast majority will get off at the next stop. People argue it is just a trophy project to increase shopping centre revenue and force passengers to arrrive next to ill fated West Kowloon government culture area.

Can you explain how did you compare the design and floor layout etc. of the original proposal with the newest one in terms of passenger flow and experience, as well as cost and benefit?

What is the problem of "a large shopping centre come train station"? Don't you think passengers, especially tourists, are happier to have a final chance to shop more before leaving Hong Kong?

Don't you know one of the main factors of Hong Kong Airport being rated as tops in the World is its shopping and eating facilities? So you're going to suggest all these can be removed so that the terminals can be as simple and small as that of Kai Tak?

Don't you think more shopping facilities generate more revenue to cover development and operation costs? On one hand you said "public money is being wasted" and on the other hand you disagree proposals that can generate more revenue, do you see the conflicts among your opinions?

Should the Government use the public's money to subsidise excessive projects because they 'look cool'. Having a national car brand, airline flag carrier, High Speed rail are all 'cool' things but why should the people subsidise these?

The reason there is no cross border bus station is it would reduce revenues at the Government owned MTR.

Should the Government use the public's money to subsidise excessive projects because they 'look cool'. Having a national car brand, airline flag carrier, High Speed rail are all 'cool' things but why should the people subsidise these?

You appears to be intentionally ignoring revenue part of a project by assuming the return rate is zero for these projects invested.

The reason there is no cross border bus station is it would reduce revenues at the Government owned MTR.

Please provide evidence.

Please provide evidence.

Please contact TD and ask why cross boundary buses are not given priority in cross boundary transport planning.

I can't imagine forcing intercity passengers with luggage to try an Admiralty-style terminus. It doesn't make sense. We're not building the Berlin Hauptbahnhof already.

Just saw a programme a few days ago moaning about the stupidity of the Hong Kong section of the HK-SZ-GZ HSR... apparently the Airport Express stations with in-town check-in already have second platform, which are currently bricked up, basically extra capacity that frankly hasn't materialised (add to the fact the platforms allow 10-car trains, yet only 8-car trains are currently used).

Now, the HK section of the HSR is capped at 200kph as the trains have to go via underground tunnels. Factor in the time to speed up and slow down, the "slower" AEL which travels at 135kph wouldn't actually be that much slower... not to mention building a spur-line to NOL, saves a heck of a lot of money! :(

So... if people aren't willing to take the "expensive" AEL to HKG, why on earth would they want to take the HSR, which by being slower than flying, has to be cheaper than "quasi-domestic-into-the-mainland" flights?

Just saw a programme a few days ago moaning about the stupidity of the Hong Kong section of the HK-SZ-GZ HSR... apparently the Airport Express stations with in-town check-in already have second platform, which are currently bricked up, basically extra capacity that frankly hasn't materialised (add to the fact the platforms allow 10-car trains, yet only 8-car trains are currently used).

Now, the HK section of the HSR is capped at 200kph as the trains have to go via underground tunnels. Factor in the time to speed up and slow down, the "slower" AEL which travels at 135kph wouldn't actually be that much slower... not to mention building a spur-line to NOL, saves a heck of a lot of money! :(

So... if people aren't willing to take the "expensive" AEL to HKG, why on earth would they want to take the HSR, which by being slower than flying, has to be cheaper than "quasi-domestic-into-the-mainland" flights?

The AEL projection was off by a lot, no doubt about it. A big part of it is because how well the other modes of transportation have served the airport and the city in direct competition with the express rail line, which significantly reduce the AEL usage. It isn't just the available alternative, but also they are competitive in both fare and time.

And don't forget, AEL is the world first express rail built exclusively for an airport, no one else in the world have such data to support the patronage projection. It was all assumptions and projections. The consultant had overseen the competition from other mode of transportation.

But what if the projection was the other way around? What if the projection have had suggested only one 10-car platform, but turned out to be not enough capacity? Who to blame and no immediate solution? It is always more difficult (and some time even more costly) to build less and then expand to fit the demand, rather than build in excess and let the demand grow into the supply in infrastructures.

I don't think you can take the AEL and compare with the HSR directly.
They serve different groups of people, and the direct competitions are not in same scale.
AEL take 25 minutes to travel from Central to the airport, but it takes only 15-20 minutes more by buses at 40% of the cost. People concern time more would take the train; people concern with cost would take the bus.
OK, it take almost 100% more time, but it's in minutes. Unlike travelling to GZ, the unit is in hour.
Bus to GZ takes 3 hours with no congestion anywhere easily, the current direct train take 2 hours, and the HSR is only 48 minutes to Shibi (fine, add 45 minute if going to the old GZ.) An hour or two slower make a whole lot different than 15-20 minutes, especially if the estimated fare isn't that much higher.

Even if only going to SZ, the HSR will take much less time than the East Rail or the West Rail, NOL or not, it still takes almost an hour from Hung Ham to the boarder only because the train has to stop at every station in between; and this excludes walking time across immigration and extra travel time to the Futian HSR terminal.

If the origins and destinations are both within Guangdong province, flying is likely to be less attractive in the future when the HSR opens.
There is hardly anyone flying to GZ from HK today, the existing services are primarily for international transfer.

There are always people want to take the train to Shanghai, Beijing or immediate cities.
If there were no demand, the existing service wouldn't be even running.

You can move the HSR to Kam Sheung Road to make it less costly, but also less attractive as it is further away from the city centre. Unlike many other mainland cities where plan to develop the new city centre around the HSR terminal, HK neither has no such plan nor even possible.

So... if people aren't willing to take the "expensive" AEL to HKG, why on earth would they want to take the HSR, which by being slower than flying, has to be cheaper than "quasi-domestic-into-the-mainland" flights?

I actually had the same question, but apparently the HSR is geared towards connecting HK to the Pearl River Delta region, which has what? 50 mil ppl? So while it connects to other places in China that are more convenient by air, there are definitely benefits to inter-city rail within the region.

Besides, We're only building towards GZ, and then only paying the HK portion, so all other destinations are just added bonus that we didn't even pay for anyways.

If you're a businessman from elsewhere in China, say Shanghai or Beijing, and you're doing business in Guangzhou. Having a HSR that connects GZ to HK conveniently and quickly is a HUGE factor in attracting that potential business to HK.

And what about the millions of people that travel by rail in China? Those people are from second or third tier cities who either might not have an airport that goes directly to HK or an inconvenient one at a nearby city. So factoring in the location of HSR terminal, which most likely means just a change of platforms, compared to traveling to a nearby city by slower rail, then find their way to the airport, which way is more convenient?

Bottom line is you're assuming a position that the HSR is redundant or in direct competition w/ the HKG airport, when the two should be complimentary.

Also, if HSR are financially sound for European countries, where there's both less population and more sparsely located, why wouldn't it work for HK?


So just build the damn thing already Hong Kong. Stop whining about Shanghai getting ahead and actually do something! Are WKCD and Kai Tak not enough examples of wasted time and opportunities?

So... if people aren't willing to take the "expensive" AEL to HKG, why on earth would they want to take the HSR, which by being slower than flying, has to be cheaper than "quasi-domestic-into-the-mainland" flights?

Because the Government refuses to develop bus terminus for cross boundary bus services it is stifling competition competition forcing people to use the train as it is just too complex to find a bus that would offer a better cheaper solution.

Just saw a programme a few days ago moaning about the stupidity of the Hong Kong section of the HK-SZ-GZ HSR... apparently the Airport Express stations with in-town check-in already have second platform, which are currently bricked up, basically extra capacity that frankly hasn't materialised (add to the fact the platforms allow 10-car trains, yet only 8-car trains are currently used).
That is at Hong Kong station. I think it is logical to have 2 platforms at a station even though they are using 1 now. The intention was actually to send the Airport Express across the reclamation to Wan Chai.

Just saw a programme a few days ago moaning about the stupidity of the Hong Kong section of the HK-SZ-GZ HSR... apparently the Airport Express stations with in-town check-in already have second platform, which are currently bricked up, basically extra capacity that frankly hasn't materialised (add to the fact the platforms allow 10-car trains, yet only 8-car trains are currently used).

One main reason for not opening that 2nd platform is the inability to build the U turn tunnel due to the required land has not been reclaimed.

Now, the HK section of the HSR is capped at 200kph as the trains have to go via underground tunnels. Factor in the time to speed up and slow down, the "slower" AEL which travels at 135kph wouldn't actually be that much slower... not to mention building a spur-line to NOL, saves a heck of a lot of money! :(

Please study if it is really feasible to share the tracks with West Rail Line.

So... if people aren't willing to take the "expensive" AEL to HKG, why on earth would they want to take the HSR, which by being slower than flying, has to be cheaper than "quasi-domestic-into-the-mainland" flights?

Can't see there is any relationship between people not willing to take AEL and willingless of taking XRL. Comparing apple with orange simply doesn't make sense.

The AEL spur-line to Kam Sheung Road (proposed HK HSR interchange):

http://www.procommons.org.hk/?p=2643

One main reason for not opening that 2nd platform is the inability to build the U turn tunnel due to the required land has not been reclaimed.

What u-turn? Trains should "exit" Central westwards as per the other platforms (existing AEL and Tung Chung Line). Also, said tunnels are underground and should be about level with the sea-bed if it needed to exit in the direction of Admiralty... in which case a tunnel can be built using submerged concrete box sections. That is, after all how the first cross harbour tunnel was built...



Please study if it is really feasible to share the tracks with West Rail Line.

Can't see there is any relationship between people not willing to take AEL and willingless of taking XRL. Comparing apple with orange simply doesn't make sense.

I never said for it to share the tracks with West Rail, only the ProCommons proposal is for the AEL spur line to terminate at Kam Sheung Road, where the HSR terminus for HK side should be built. Said station is also proposed as the point where the West Rail line will be linked to Lok Ma Chau via the NOL, a completely different project.

Anyway, another article (from the SCMP) still in Google cache:

http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:1qQIYMPqpywJ:www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser%3FAction%3DUserDisplayFullDocument%26orgId%3D574%26topicId%3D100020474%26docId%3Dl:1073727011%26start%3D5+Hong+Kong+station+second+platform&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk

Emphasis mine...

Copyright 2009 South China Morning Post Ltd.
All Rights Reserved

South China Morning Post
November 13, 2009 Friday
NEWS; Pg. 1
862 words
Massive railway platform lies idle in Central Massive railway platform lies idle under prime real estate in Central
Daniel Sin and Yau Chui-yan

A 220,000 square foot platform reserved for the Airport Express at Hong Kong station - almost as big as three soccer pitches - has been left unused for 11 years beneath prime real estate in Central.

The MTR Corporation says it was built "for future development" of the railway as passenger numbers grew but still has no plan for when it will be put into service.

And that could be a long time, with passenger numbers on the express still 25 per cent below the level originally predicted for its first year of operation - and little more than a third of the estimates for 2011.

Tracks in the undeveloped area are used for little more than parking idle trains and the MTR says it is looking at alternative uses for the space.

The situation raises new questions about the MTR Corp's estimates for its multibillion-dollar projects, many of which are still well below the forecasts, as work on the most expensive yet - the $65HK.2 billion express line to Guangzhou - is about to begin.

An economist said the MTR Corp appeared to have a tendency to roll out over-optimistic projections to paint a rosy picture for its projects. "Because of the continuously changing economic environment it is difficult to say whether it over-stated the passenger figures for the Airport Express, but it is inevitable that the company would provide favourable figures," Timothy Hau Doe-kwong, associate professor of economics of the University of Hong Kong, said. "There is a possibility that the high-speed rail will turn up as a white elephant if the MTR Corp is only quoting favourable figures, as it did with the Airport Express."

The 24-minute airport rail service, which cost $35HK billion and opened in July 1998, carries about 29,000 passengers a day.

The MTR Corp originally estimated 39,000 passengers a day in the first year, rising to 54,000 in 2006 and 75,000 in 2011. But passengers have shown a preference for cheaper, more convenient buses, and the railway's share of airport visitors has fallen from 50 per cent in 1998 to about a third last year.

To meet the demand predicted at the planning stage, two platforms were built at Hong Kong station from which a train of 10 cars could leave every eight minutes. Between 1999 and 2003 however, the daily passenger load fell by more than 30 per cent, from 28,500 to 18,800. It rose gradually to about 29,000 a day last year. Now, a seven-car train leaves the sole active platform every 12 minutes.

Hau said the variety of available transport to the airport contributed to the loss. "Many models show that passengers prefer point-to-point transportation to the airport. Airport buses and minibuses offer point-to-point transportation, which is more flexible and much cheaper," he said.

The Airport Express from Hong Kong station to Airport station costs $100HK for a single trip, while bus route A11 from Hong Kong Island costs $40HK. Hau said it was difficult for the MTR Corp to offer a more attractive price because of the high cost of building the express.

Leung Kong-yui, former transport advisory committee member and former president of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, expects it will take another 20 to 30 years to reach the originally estimated capacity.

MTR Corp senior manager Maggie So Man-kit said the airport's passenger numbers were expected to increase to more than 70 million by 2020 and beyond so there would be a need to increase the service from the current five trains an hour to eight trains an hour.

"Once the train frequency increases to seven trains per hour or above, the second platform and additional tunnels will be required," So said. She said some alternative uses of the reserved platform had been explored, but nothing materialised due to land-use restrictions and high renovation cost.

These figures have prompted questions on whether the 140,000 square metre terminus to be built under West Kowloon for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high speed link, is cost-effective.

Without revealing the passenger projections, the Transport Bureau estimated that the $65HK.2 billion high-speed rail line would carry 99,000 passengers when it begins service in 2016. There will be 15 platforms at its terminus in West Kowloon.

Albert Lai Kwong-tak, chairman of the think tank Professional Commons, said the government had overestimated the number of passengers using the Airport Express, and had given the MTR Corp more land than was necessary. He said that what could be done now was to make the best use of the space.

Professional surveyor Raymond Chan Yuk-ming said that the rental value of underground space in Central ranged from $20HK to $300HK per square foot depending on its accessibility.

The presence of pockets of idle land raised the eyebrows of Christine Loh Kung-wai, chairwoman of the Society for Protection of the Harbour.

She questioned whether the government's claims for "minimum reclamation" had been genuine.

"It is [often] impossible for a member of the public to tell from the drawings whether the land requirements are necessary. But in our last legal battle with the government, [we saw] that the government managed to cut back from reclamation, even its plan was the 'minimum'," she said.
November 12, 2009

Anyway, this whole West Kowloon HSR terminus and line idea is just stupid-stupid-stupid and soul destroying to get people to wake up to how utterly stupid it is. It's enough to build 4 more Disneylands in Hong Kong (Disneyland Central Tamar, Disneyland Kowloon Kai Tak, Disneyland Shatin & Disneyland Cheung Chau)... and we all know how much of a white elephant that was (a special visa for mainland tourists to visit HK Disneyland and only Disneyland in a pathetic attempt to shore up attendance figures...).

So HK Disneyland was Tung Chee Wah's "if we don't build this HK will be marginalised"... the HSR is surely Donald "to-fu for brains" Tsang's "if we don't build this HK will be marginalised" gag.

Why are HKers falling for it again a second time round? :ohno:

An episode of News Magazine by TVB on HSR:
Sorry, Chinese only.

http://mytv.tvb.com/news/newsmagazine/102624

What u-turn? Trains should "exit" Central westwards as per the other platforms (existing AEL and Tung Chung Line). Also, said tunnels are underground and should be about level with the sea-bed if it needed to exit in the direction of Admiralty... in which case a tunnel can be built using submerged concrete box sections. That is, after all how the first cross harbour tunnel was built...


It seems you know nothing about the technical part of the HK Station design, and probably all required details to understand more on the whole XRL project.

HK Station track and platform design is similar to that of Tsuen Wan Station. Please think yourself why a "U turn" is required for a 2-platform operation with such design.

Central reclamation is already planned and after which is completed, the U turn tunnel can be built. There is no point to build a sea-bed submerged tunnel which is finally not needed or may even conflict to the reclamation plan. In addition, do you confirm "sea-bed" is the right level for the tunnel?

I never said for it to share the tracks with West Rail, only the ProCommons proposal is for the AEL spur line to terminate at Kam Sheung Road, where the HSR terminus for HK side should be built. Said station is also proposed as the point where the West Rail line will be linked to Lok Ma Chau via the NOL, a completely different project.

Please read Legco documents in details here:

http://www.legco.gov.hk/yr11-12/english/panels/tp/tp_rdp/papers/rdp_g.htm

You will find pros and cons of Government and Procommons schemes. I suggest you need to understand more on background of the project and the technical parts so as to give more justifiable opinions.

Anyway, another article (from the SCMP) still in Google cache:

http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:1qQIYMPqpywJ:www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser%3FAction%3DUserDisplayFullDocument%26orgId%3D574%26topicId%3D100020474%26docId%3Dl:1073727011%26start%3D5+Hong+Kong+station+second+platform&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk

Emphasis mine...


I still don't see the artical has explained the direct relationship of over-estimation of AEL passengers with XRL. AEL and XRL are rails of different natures.

Anyway, this whole West Kowloon HSR terminus and line idea is just stupid-stupid-stupid and soul destroying to get people to wake up to how utterly stupid it is. It's enough to build 4 more Disneylands in Hong Kong (Disneyland Central Tamar, Disneyland Kowloon Kai Tak, Disneyland Shatin & Disneyland Cheung Chau)... and we all know how much of a white elephant that was (a special visa for mainland tourists to visit HK Disneyland and only Disneyland in a pathetic attempt to shore up attendance figures...).

So HK Disneyland was Tung Chee Wah's "if we don't build this HK will be marginalised"... the HSR is surely Donald "to-fu for brains" Tsang's "if we don't build this HK will be marginalised" gag.

Why are HKers falling for it again a second time round? :ohno:

Again, HK Disneyland is nothing to do with XRL.

Is it that some people just get giddy at the though of fast sleek trains and sense goes out of the window?

Economic pay back for HSR is dodgy, it is just an integration projection to make HK a district of Gaungdong surely?

Isolating HK from rest of Guangdong and China will be the end of HK for sure.

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Angry rail-link protesters clash with police
30 November 2009
The Standard

http://the-sun.on.cc/cnt/news/20091130/photo/1130-00407-005b1.jpg

A march by 1,000 people protesting against construction of the HK$65 billion Express Rail link to Guangzhou turned ugly when 100 of them clashed with police at government headquarters in Central.

The clashes, which were still going on late last night, first flared at the end of a two-hour rally by people from 20 organizations, who had marched from Causeway Bay yesterday afternoon.

They were urging lawmakers to reject funding for the Guangzhou- Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link when the Legislative Council's public works subcommittee meets on Wednesday. After the first clash with police, the 100 protesters sat down in front of the main wing of the Central Government Offices demanding to meet Secretary for Transport and Housing Eva Cheng Yu- wah.

By late last night there was no sign of Cheng or that protesters would leave. Among them were villagers from Choi Yuen Tsuen, who have been asked to move from their homes to make way for the project.

Some youths carried a railway model and said the consultation for the rail was too rushed, and the government had displayed a thoughtless attitude toward the plan.

Choi Yuen Tsuen Concern Group leader Ko Chun-heung said the government had ignored their demands, so legislators should reject funding for the project. ``We will monitor all the legislators because we want to protect our homes,'' Ko said. ``We will work hard till the last minute.''

She added that compensation deals would not lead them to give up their fight.

A woman named Tse, who has lived in the village for 18 years, said the government did not consider the elderly when it suggested they move to public housing. ``The government only knows about compensation. It never cares about whether the elderly can adapt to public housing or not,'' she said.

The government has offered up to HK$630,000 in some cases for the 150 families at Choi Yuen Tsuen, and the villagers will also be given priority to choose public housing.

The Executive Council endorsed the controversial Express Rail Link between Hong Kong and Shenzhen last month, even though the project exceeded its original estimate by HK$14.5 billion.

Nobody here lives in Choi Yuen Tsuen right?

Can't wait too here the news about LegCo approving the money for construction.
The first, and only time, I love the DAB and other pro-government LegCo members.

The Public Works Subcommittee has approved the project. So the final step before the work can be started will be the Finance Committee.

Can't wait too here the news about LegCo approving the money for construction.

They just did

http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2c913216495213d5df646910cba0a0a0/?vgnextoid=f88cd69498455210VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=teaser&ss=Hong+Kong&s=News

Why do you want the train system

1) It offers the best ROI for any transport project
2) Economic and cultural integration of HK and China is the most important factor
3) I like trains the faster the better and this one is really fast
4) Beijing says so I agree

Central to Shenzhen - The best route will still be by a bus!

Bus from Hanggaung to Central takes just under 40 minutes. Or 30 mins if you drive really quickly.

Public transport to new super size two track station will take 10 mins with all the walking to actually get to platform in Central. Going through the mega mall and getting on a train wil take another 10 mins then the 20 mins to get to SZ.

A buss will stiil be as quick as the $65b train but more convenient - less stops/changes. No wonder the TD does not want to facilitate cross boundary bus services!

But this link is not just for Shenzhen ...

Bus from Hanggaung to Central takes just under 40 minutes. Or 30 mins if you drive really quickly.

Buses are more polluted thus much less environmental efficiency. More buses mean more pressure on road traffic. Higher speed means higher chances to have a traffic accident.

Public transport to new super size two track station will take 10 mins with all the walking to actually get to platform in Central. Going through the mega mall and getting on a train wil take another 10 mins then the 20 mins to get to SZ.

Have you counted the time and considered the convenience level when travel by bus, passengers need to get off the bus, walk for a long outdoor (though covered) distance at Lok Ma Chau Control Point to pass through the immigration checks, and the get on the bus again to cross the Shenzhen river, and then go through the Mainland side of immigration check again?

Have you counted the time and considered the convenience level when travel by bus, passengers need to get off the bus, walk for a long outdoor (though covered) distance at Lok Ma Chau Control Point to pass through the immigration checks, and the get on the bus again to cross the Shenzhen river, and then go through the Mainland side of immigration check again?

Lok Ma Cha by bus is a little long winded I would agree but perhaps $1/2b could be spent on making it super slick and as fast as the Shekou Bay one with a joint border control (yes it can be done).

Government suggests the vast majority of journeys will be to SZ so it is relevant to compare the HSR system against it only (and non government owned) rival. If there were government funded bus stations then buses would carry a significantly higher proportion of the cross border traffic.

Bus numbers for some strange to fathom reason are fixed while cars are not.

Pro Car / Pro Train / Anti Bus policy?

Lok Ma Cha by bus is a little long winded I would agree but perhaps $1/2b could be spent on making it super slick and as fast as the Shekou Bay one with a joint border control (yes it can be done).

Government suggests the vast majority of journeys will be to SZ so it is relevant to compare the HSR system against it only (and non government owned) rival. If there were government funded bus stations then buses would carry a significantly higher proportion of the cross border traffic.

Bus numbers for some strange to fathom reason are fixed while cars are not.

Pro Car / Pro Train / Anti Bus policy?

You still need to resolve the road traffic pressure / pollution / safety issues.

CO2 / passenger KM will be comparable between a modern bus and a HSR system that never gets up to full speed. That just leaves congestion and most other cities buses are given priority over cars but HK the TD can't operate it's very successful property company if passengers started to migrate to buses. Buses alleviate congestion not create it. I am not aware of any other city where the Government suggest buses are the generators of congestion. It really is amusing how owning a very large property company can skew policy and public opinion.

CO2 / passenger KM will be comparable between a modern bus and a HSR system that never gets up to full speed.

Then pls show us the comparable figures.

FYI the minimum distance for an HSR train to accelerate to a speed of 200km/h is 4.2km.

how much will the ticket HK>Shanghai be?

Have you counted the time and considered the convenience level when travel by bus, passengers need to get off the bus, walk for a long outdoor (though covered) distance at Lok Ma Chau Control Point to pass through the immigration checks, and the get on the bus again to cross the Shenzhen river, and then go through the Mainland side of immigration check again?

Plus switching bus, or transfer to the subway to reach the Longhua station area in northern Shenzhen, but not areas just across the boarder.

why would you want to go to Longhua station - just go to the office or factory you intended to go to. http://www.expressrailtruth.com/news20090916_01.html

comparative CO2 on this thread
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=42979006&postcount=46

what is the top speed of the HSR? 200km/hr does not sound that fast how long to get to top speed?

what is the top speed of the HSR? 200km/hr does not sound that fast how long to get to top speed?

All rail transport (Metro, Trains, Maglev, etc) all "cap" their acceleration to 1m/s^2 so to reach 200kph (~55m/s) will take just a little under 1 minute (about 20 seconds longer than AEL getting to top speed).

So yeah, Hong Kong is to build ultra-expensive HSR tunnel, so trains can go through them in what would be 2nd/3rd gear on a car. Genius! Not...

All shoved down HKer's throat by being blackmailed of HK being "sidelined" (fool me once, shame on me; fool me twice, shame on you)... like HK doesn't have a world class International Airport (to those that said it was a white elephant... I have a good hunch they were mainland Chinese officials/pro-mainland HKers scaremongering that the colonial govt. was trying to bankrupt HK), sea port, etc.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

why would you want to go to Longhua station - just go to the office or factory you intended to go to. http://www.expressrailtruth.com/news20090916_01.html


Again, Longhua is the planned to be the new CBD for Shenzhen in the future away from the congested Futian area, just like Shibi as in Guangzhou.

Longhua is sure not a place everyone will go today, but in 20 years, it will a second destination..
You can't look at only yesterday and today, and not looking ahead into the future.

All rail transport (Metro, Trains, Maglev, etc) all "cap" their acceleration to 1m/s^2 so to reach 200kph (~55m/s) will take just a little under 1 minute (about 20 seconds longer than AEL getting to top speed).

So yeah, Hong Kong is to build ultra-expensive HSR tunnel, so trains can go through them in what would be 2nd/3rd gear on a car. Genius! Not...

All shoved down HKer's throat by being blackmailed of HK being "sidelined" (fool me once, shame on me; fool me twice, shame on you)... like HK doesn't have a world class International Airport (to those that said it was a white elephant... I have a good hunch they were mainland Chinese officials/pro-mainland HKers scaremongering that the colonial govt. was trying to bankrupt HK), sea port, etc.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Think more about the pollution and safe issue when comparing with running a car.

Or if there is anywhere in HK where you can drive a car in 200km/h legally, please let me know.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.