Before the official commencement of construction on the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-Speed Rail, it had already been labelled by some politicians, leaving a negative impression of a “white elephant” in many people’s minds. Unfortunately, this line first experienced serious engineering delays, leading to construction costs significantly exceeding the initial budget; later, the “black violence” stifled the crucial passenger cultivation period, interrupting the gradual upward trend in ridership. Influenced by the social atmosphere at the time, people did not fairly and objectively investigate the reasons why the passenger flow of the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-Speed Rail deviated from predictions. As soon as the line’s less-than-ideal initial operational performance was mentioned, they either simply criticised Chinese high-speed rail as “dangerous” and “useless”, or rushed to prove themselves wiser than the government. Even in 2023, several years after the unrest had subsided, there were still journalists using interviews and data to once again paint a picture—the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-Speed Rail had high construction costs but poor benefits, and even the “northbound tide” could not help its passenger volume reach the original expectations.
However, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-Speed Rail has become a cross-border transport tool deeply loved by the general public and travellers today, and even many people who once viewed the high-speed rail as an enemy are now passengers on it. This north-south railway corridor, approximately 26 kilometres long, is quite busy. Data on travellers crossings at the Hong Kong West Kowloon broder control point, provided by the Immigration Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, reflects that the average daily number of passengers using the high-speed rail to travel to and from the mainland has already been a “six-digit number”. In the first three weeks of August 2025, the average daily number of people using the port for crossings reached 103,127, exceeding the level predicted by the government for the fourth year of high-speed rail operation—95,000 passengers per day. During these 21 days, as many as 14 days had over 100,000 crossings, with the highest being August 17 (Sunday), when more than 131,000 people passed through the port to and from the mainland; only 7 days were below the predicted level, and among them, 4 days had crossings very close to or exceeding 90,000. The days with relatively lower numbers were only 5 August, 6 August, and 14 August, mainly because heavy rain on these days severely affected travellers’ outings and led to the cancellation of some train services.
The reason why the passenger flow of the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-Speed Rail was below the predicted level in the past few years is not because this infrastructure itself is useless; part of it is due to the actual operational arrangements deviating from the assumptions in the predictions. For example, in the early stages of the line’s operation, the actual number of short-haul high-speed trains running on the line was fewer than the settings in the quantitative analysis model, and the number of long-haul high-speed trains that were put into service immediately after opening was also not as many as assumed in the quantitative analysis model. Once the frequency increases and the stopping stations expand, the competitiveness of the high-speed rail can gradually be demonstrated. Have you taken it today?