On July 1, 2022, Hong Kong ushered in a special day - the 25th anniversary of its return to the motherland. From ordinary-speed railways to high-speed trains, the national railway enterprises give full play to their industry advantages, professional advantages and network advantages to provide a steady stream of transportation power to help Hong Kong integrate into the overall development of the country, to promote Hong Kong's long-term prosperity and stability, and to compose a successful practice of "one country, two systems". The new chapter makes due contributions to the railway sector.

Hong Kong West Kowloon Station

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has made many important expositions on the practice of "one country, two systems" and the work of Hong Kong from the perspective of the strategy and the overall situation, further deepening the understanding of the regularity of the practice of "one country, two systems", and promoting the cause of "one country, two systems". new level. The Party Central Committee has made overall plans to maintain Hong Kong's long-term prosperity and stability, support Hong Kong's integration into the overall development of the country, and bring a steady stream of impetus to Hong Kong's long-term development.

In his 2019 New Year's message, President Xi Jinping mentioned that "Hong Kong has entered the national high-speed rail network". The high-speed rail has brought new vitality to the prosperity and development of Hong Kong. On September 23, 2018, the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed rail was opened, and Hong Kong was officially connected to the national high-speed rail network; it only takes 47 minutes from Hong Kong West Kowloon Station to Guangzhou South Station. It only takes 8 hours and 56 minutes to arrive at Beijing West Railway Station, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has formed a "1-hour living circle". After the map adjustment the following year, Hong Kong was connected to 54 high-speed rail stations in the Mainland. The 26-kilometer Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed rail Hong Kong section is connected to the national high-speed rail network, which greatly shortens the space-time distance between Hong Kong and mainland cities.

Dynamic EMU train running on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed railway

The China National Railway Corporation and the Hong Kong Railway Department have further deepened cooperation in professional talent training and exchanges to cultivate high-speed rail talents for Hong Kong. The first batch of 60 qualified high-speed rail drivers have undergone rigorous training in Hong Kong and the mainland respectively, and are certified to work. As the first batch of high-speed rail drivers in Hong Kong, they boarded the cockpit of the "Dynamic", which is a new milestone in the development of Hong Kong's railways.

Over the past 25 years, Hong Kong and the Mainland have had closer exchanges through railways. The Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway has completed the electrification transformation of the entire line successively, and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen quasi-high-speed railway has been opened to traffic. By 2007, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway had developed into a line with four parallel lines, EMU trains, normal-speed passenger trains and freight trains running on separate lines. Since the opening and operation of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed rail line, the number of inbound and outbound passengers on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed rail trains was 12.095 million and 12.539 million respectively.

In terms of freight transportation, the national railway enterprises are actively developing the container business in Hong Kong according to the actual situation. In 2002, the Dongguan to Hong Kong container train cooperation agreement was signed, and the container from loading to unloading, from the freight yard to the owner's door was compressed to 24 hours, and the implementation of one ticket to the end, "one price" billing, solved the problem of port containers. Regarding the issues of price and service time during transportation, ensure that the goods supplied to the port, especially the fresh and live goods, are dispatched, grouped, and emptied first.

In order to help Hong Kong cope with the new crown pneumonia epidemic, on March 2, 2022, the "Central Aid to Hong Kong, Concentric Anti-epidemic" railway aid train set out from Shenzhen Ping Hunan National Logistics Hub and headed for Hong Kong on March 2, 2022. As of June 30, a total of 291 trains of goods to Hong Kong have operated, transporting 1,922 tons of goods.

On March 2, 2022, the first "Central Aid to Hong Kong, Fight the Epidemic Together" Central Railway Aid to Hong Kong departed

The same care, the same support, is like a scene that started 60 years ago: since 1962, except for the first day of the Lunar New Year, the mainland has sent three express trains to Hong Kong and Macao to supply fresh and frozen goods every day. called the "lifeline". From the "three express trains" to the aid to Hong Kong to fight the epidemic, the central government has always cared deeply for Hong Kong, and the people of the mainland and Hong Kong compatriots have always been brothers and sisters.

Three express trains from the Mainland to Hong Kong

A bird's-eye view of Hong Kong from the observation deck at the top of the station building at West Kowloon Station

At present, the "Greater Bay Area on Track" is being formed rapidly, and the railway will accumulate new potential energy for Hong Kong's take-off and help start a new round of development. Editor/He Yuting