Hong Kong to consider more high-speed sleeper trains to Beijing, Shanghai: transport chief

Hong Kong will discuss increasing the frequency of high-speed sleeper trains to Beijing and Shanghai with mainland China’s railway operator if there is demand, the city’s transport chief has said, adding that daily services are possible.

Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung also said on Saturday that he would take the first Beijing-bound train on June 15 to join fellow passengers on a “memorable trip”.

Lam said the new sleeper-train service between the city to Beijing and Shanghai would be attractive to business travellers and tourists, as it would save them time and money.

“Whether we increase the frequency of trains will have to depend on demand, as we have trains running four days of the week,” he said. “If data in the future shows there is a need for increased train frequencies, we can see whether there is room for us to arrange for trains every day from China Railway.”

China Railway announced on Tuesday the new service would replace the suspended through train running between Hung Hom in Hong Kong and the two destinations.

Under the new regular service, trains departing from Hong Kong’s West Kowloon terminus would take about 12½ hours to get to Beijing West railway station and around 11 hours to Shanghai Hongqiao railway station.

The trains would run between Friday and Monday, which Lam said was because demand for these services was stronger during the latter half of the week.

The transport minister did not provide a timeline for when authorities would ask for more frequent train services from China Railway, saying residents would need to first get used to the new mode of transport.

The D910 service will leave at 6.24pm from Hong Kong’s West Kowloon terminus and arrive at 6.53am the next day at Beijing West railway station – a journey time of about 12½ hours.

Meanwhile, the D908 service will leave at 7.49pm from Hong Kong on June 15 and arrive at 6.45am on June 16.

Online tickets for the first three high-speed sleeper trains ­travelling from Hong Kong to Beijing sold out fast on the first day of sales, the Post had found.

Lam was upbeat that the new services would be more attractive to business travellers and tourists.

The secretary noted that if passengers opted for a flight at dusk, they would arrive at either Shanghai or Beijing in the evening and need to spend a night at a hotel before commencing travels or meetings the following day.

Using Beijing as an example, he also added that if passengers opted for an early morning flight at 8am instead, they would only be able to start their itinerary as early as 2pm due to the proximity of the airport to the city centre.

Lam noted that the sleeper-train service would avoid these issues, as travellers would arrive at their destination early in the morning and they would have more time that they could make use of.

“I think no matter for business or for tourism, I see that there is great potential for this service,” he said.