Summary：Some people traveled from other cities just for the opportunity to ride the first fast train from the SARFestivi...

Some people traveled from other cities just for the opportunity to ride the first fast train from the SAR

Festivity filled the air as excited passengers from many places thronged West Kowloon Station - the city's first and only high-speed rail terminus - in the early morning of Sunday just before the long-awaited Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Link went into operation.

Within the spacious station concourse, a jubilant mood prevailed. Passengers were seen busily taking photos and filming the historic moment.

It was not only a historical moment for Hong Kong and the media, but also for the city's rail fans and passengers eager to get on board high-speed rail journeys to the Chinese mainland.

Train fans and enthusiasts had converged on the city a night earlier in order to be part of history with their loved ones and friends. Some came from Shenzhen and took the first Vibrant Express pulling away from the world's largest underground railway station - West Kowloon Station - to Shenzhen North at 7 am on Sunday morning.

China Daily also met a man surnamed Vlas, a train lover from Moscow who flew into the city particularly for this moment to see the terminus and board the train for Wuhan, Hubei province, where he hadn't been before.

As per schedule, 95 pairs of trains will run along the XRL on Sunday. From Monday, the new cross-boundary project will have 70 pairs of direct trains linking Hong Kong with 44 stations in 38 mainland cities every day on week days and 82 pairs from Fridays to Sundays.

So, get ready to join in for a slice of the action. Start planning your trips by boarding the brand new bullet trains to the various exotic destinations on the mainland!

stushadow@chinadailyhk.com

 

 

A commuter, with his little daughter, holds up a huge China Daily cutout at West Kowloon Station before boarding the first Vibrant Express train at 7 am for the Chinese mainland on Sunday. Roy Liu / China Daily

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor (center right); Ma Xingrui (center left), governor of Guangdong province; Tung Chee-hwa (fifth right) and Leung Chun-ying (fifth left), vice-chairmen of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and former chief executives; Zhang Xiaoming (fourth right), director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council; Wang Zhimin (fourth left), director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong SAR; Xie Feng (third left), commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the HKSAR, and other officials turn on a switch to mark the launch of the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link at a ceremony on Saturday morning. Edmond Tang / China Daily

 

 

First in the queue ... commuters surnamed Lau (front left) and Tony Chan (front right) lead the pack as they enter West Kowloon Station, which opened at 5 am on Sunday for the launch of the high-speed train service on the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link. Roy Liu / China Daily