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Hong Kong transport
Hong KongTransport

Hong Kong minister grilled over price of HK$330 million cross-border rail link

Lawmakers raise concerns over planned train route connecting Shenzhen’s Qianhai and Hong Kong’s Hung Shui Kiu under Northern Metropolis plan

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The Hung Shui Kiu area has been earmarked for a proposed rail project. Photo: Winson Wong
Lo Hoi-ying

Hong Kong lawmakers have grilled the transport minister over the cost-effectiveness and benefits of a more than HK$330 million (US$42.4 million) joint cross-border railway project expected to open in 2035 and link the northwestern part of the city with Shenzhen.

Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan met the Legislative Council’s railways subcommittee on Monday to share details about the planned link running between Shenzhen’s Qianhai and Hong Kong’s Hung Shui Kiu, and faced questions about its price tag and expected ridership.

Fok Ka-lai, chief engineer of the Highways Department’s Northern Metropolis Railways Office, said the whole project would cost HK$333.6 million, including HK$163.2 million that would go towards the scheme’s investigation and design phase.

Transport authorities planned to submit a proposal to Legco for approval by midyear and aimed for the project’s Hong Kong and Shenzhen sections to open by 2035, she added.

But lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun said the planned Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Rail Link, which will terminate at the local Tuen Ma line’s proposed Hung Shui Kiu MTR station, would be ineffective in channelling tourists to Hong Kong’s urban areas.

“If mainland visitors took the Tuen Ma line to town, then it would be impossible for residents travelling via Yuen Long and Kam Sheung Road stations to board,” he said.

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