High-speed rail link between Hong Kong and mainland China will struggle to make money say critics, as they challenge claims it will be profitable from day one

Questions raised over assurances that HK$84.4 billion Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link will attract customers and prove to be lucrative investment for taxpayers

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An attendant stands on a train of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link after the successful completion of a trial run of the Hong Kong section of the track. Photo: Xinhua/Lui Siu Wai

Published: 11:15pm, 24 Aug 2018Updated: 11:31pm, 24 Aug 2018

Critics have questioned assurances given by transport bosses that Hong Kong’s high-speed rail link to mainland China will be profitable from the day it starts operating.

The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link was built at a cost of HK$84.4 billion (US$10.8 billion) of taxpayers’ money. Operated by the MTR Corporation, it is expected to open on September 23 and will connect the city directly to 44 mainland destinations.

On Friday, Secretary for Transport and Housing Frank Chan Fan was asked if the latest passenger figures of 80,100 a day – lower than a previous projection when more funding was sought for the long-delayed and over-budget service – would make Hongkongers feel they were being “cheated”.

Transport minister Frank Chan, flanked by Kevin Choi, the Deputy Secretary for Transport and Housing (left), and Adi Lau Tin-shing, operations director for the MTR Corporation (right), discusses the cross-border rail link during a radio show. Photo: Edward Wong

Chan said the government’s figures had been updated to account for the frequency of trains.

“We are trying to review as much as possible to let the public and everybody in Hong Kong know the exact situation,” he said.