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Wednesday, May 17, 2017, 22:51
Express rail set for test runs in Hong Kong
By Willa Wu in Hong Kong
Wednesday, May 17, 2017, 22:51 By Willa Wu in Hong Kong

A stationary high speed train is seen at Futian railway station in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong province on Dec 30, 2015. (AFP)

Hong Kong will launch a cross-boundary dynamic test of trains for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) in the middle of this year as the first batch of 31 high-speed train drivers have finished training and assessment, Secretary for Transport and Housing Anthony Cheung Bing-leung announced on Wednesday. 

Cheung, submitting a written reply to the Legislative Council, added that the overall progress of XRL’s Hong Kong section had reached 90 percent by March; the section’s Kowloon West Terminus will have its trial operation and staff drills next year.  

The dynamic test indicates the XRL project, which is expected to be commissioned in the third quarter of next year, is finally heading to its final stage, according to Hung Wing-tat, associate professor of the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. 

The overall progress of XRL's Hong Kong section had reached 90 percent by March

Hung also noted that it is necessary to conduct the tests one year before officially running the high-speed trains as a number of features need to be tested. 

In addition to the test, Cheung also mentioned that the government and MTR Corporation had joined hands with the mainland high-speed rail operators to discuss and examine operational matters, including arrangements for passenger services, train control and command, driver and technical personnel training and assessment, equipment maintenance and repair guidelines. 

Fares for the high-speed rail services would be only revealed after the commissioning of the Hong Kong section, Cheung said.   

In his response about the management of the XRL, Cheung said the government, which owns the Hong Kong section tracks, entrusted the MTR with design, construction, testing and commissioning of the section.  

Upon the project completion, the government could authorize the government-owned Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) to oversee the Hong Kong section or lease the section to KCRC, which might choose MTR as the operator of the section, Cheung continued.  

But MTRC Chairman Frederick Ma Si-hang said the government has not yet approached him on signing an operation agreement. 

Speaking after attending MTR’s annual shareholders’ meeting on Wednesday, Ma urged the government to have the agreement signed as soon as possible as it took time for the MTR to hire staff. 

Ma also expressed his hope that the issue of the checkpoint co-location arrangement at the West Kowloon Terminus would be addressed.

willa@chinadailyhk.com

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