The new express rail line to China is great, people just don’t know it.
This, according to reports, is the argument put forward by MTR chairman Frederick Ma when it came to explaining lower the new rail link’s lower than expected patronage since opening late last month.
According to a government statement, the Immigration Department yesterday recorded a total of 78,000 passenger trips yesterday through the new cross-boundary point at the West Kowloon terminus servicing the train.
The figure is lower than the 80,000 per day predicted by officials, a figure called “conservative” and revised down from earlier forecasts, according to Ming Pao.
According to the outlet, Ma said the new line had not been open long enough to give a fair assessment of how the numbers bode for its future use.
Ma said he believed many people were unaware of how convenient the new train line — on which it takes about 48 minutes to travel from West Kowloon to Guangzhou (South) via Shenzhen — actually is.
He also goes on to add: “In seven or 10 years time, people will start saying the [West Kowloon] station is too small, and 15 train lines is not enough”
Of yesterday’s figures, the highest patronage since the line opened on September 23, some 57,000 of trips were by mainland visitors.
The numbers, recorded on a public holiday, are significantly higher than in the wake of its opening, when just 38,000 people took the new service.
Speaking to reporters this morning, chief executive Carrie Lam stressed that 80,000 passengers per day wasn’t a “target” but a “best estimate”.
Ming Pao reports that Lam said she wasn’t worried about the financial viability of the train.
“I feel this high-speed train, this West Kowloon terminus, has huge prospects to attract more people to use it because we have yet to open this wonderful cultural facility called the West Kowloon Cultural District,” she said, according to the government statement.
“With its various museums and cultural venues, it is bound to be more attractive in the future. So let’s look forward to a more attractive and more appealing high-speed train that will attract more passengers.”
