Hong Kong high-speed rail adds 16 direct stations, with encrypted schedules and ticket benefits

The biggest upgrade of the Hong Kong section of the high-speed rail this time is undoubtedly the significant expansion of direct stations. Starting from January 26th, the Hong Kong section of the high-speed railway has added 16 direct stations to the mainland, covering key cities in East China such as Nanjing, Wuxi, and Hefei, as well as popular travel stations such as Qingyuan, Quanzhou East, and Huizhou South. This has increased the total number of direct stations for trains departing from West Kowloon Station to 110, further extending the coverage and achieving seamless connection with more mainland cities. Among the newly added stations, Nanjing South Station, Wuxi East Station, and Hefei South Station in East China have attracted much attention. This means that Hong Kong people can travel, visit relatives, and do business in East China without the need for intermediate transfers, and can directly reach core cities, greatly saving travel time. Previously, destinations that required transfers can now be reached in one step.

In addition to station expansion, MTR also optimizes the schedule of train services, encrypts the capacity of key routes, and solves the pain points of "difficult ticket purchasing and long waiting time" in popular directions. Among them, the sleeper train service between West Kowloon Station and Shanghai Hongqiao Station has been significantly upgraded, with the number of service days increasing from Friday to Monday to daily, meeting the needs of passengers for night travel. Currently, there are multiple train services available from West Kowloon Station to Shanghai Hongqiao Station, such as G900 and G902. The G900 mobile sleeper train departs at 20:00 and arrives at 06:58 the next day, with a total time of 10 hours and 58 minutes. The remaining tickets are abundant, providing passengers with more flexible travel choices. At the same time, the frequency of trips to and from Guangzhou South Station has been further increased. As one of the most frequent routes between Hong Kong and mainland China, the increased frequency of trips can achieve "high-density departure" during peak hours, greatly reducing passenger waiting time; In addition, high-speed rail services to and from Chaoshan, Xiamen, and Fuzhou have also been strengthened simultaneously. Some trains traveling between Xiamen and Fuzhou have extended their stops and optimized their stopping routes. The travel time between Hong Kong and Fuzhou stations has been reduced by about 20 minutes, further improving traffic efficiency.

It is worth mentioning that with the upgrade of operations, multiple ticket discounts and convenience measures have been implemented simultaneously, making travel more cost-effective for passengers. It is reported that the 12306 platform has launched multiple ticket purchasing benefits. Frequent flyer members aged 60 or 14-28 who purchase tickets can receive 15 times or 10 times the face value of the ticket, and 100 points can be deducted from 1 yuan of ticket fees, directly reducing travel costs; Starting from January 19th, for train tickets purchased on or after February 2nd, if the purchase date or train number is incorrect, passengers can receive a free online self-service refund within 30 minutes of successful payment and at least 4 hours before departure, with a limit of once per natural day, greatly facilitating the adjustment of their itinerary. In addition, tickets for West Kowloon Station are usually available for sale at 8:00 am every day. Passengers can purchase tickets through various channels such as the 12306 platform and the MTR official website. In response to the shortage of direct tickets, passengers can also use the 12306 "transfer" function to automatically share tickets, greatly increasing the success rate of ticket grabbing.