HK grows role as 'stopover city' with new high-speed rail routes to the rest of China

Expansion will connect passengers from West Kowloon Station to 110 cities

- Magdalene Fung

Above: A train attendant selling food and drinks on a high-speed train. Hong Kong has added 16 new destinations to its cross-border high-speed rail service (HSR). Left: The HSR's expansion appears 'strategically timed' to coincide with the Chinese New Year travel peak season, during which mainland workers will enjoy a nine-day holiday from Feb 15.

(ST PHOTO: CHONG KOH PING ST PHOTO: AW CHENG WEI)

HONG KONG - Ms Celeste Lim is excited about her next work trip to Hong Kong.

The Singaporean finance worker travels to the Asian financial hub several times a year for business, and often takes the opportunity to visit neighbouring Chinese cities.

With Hong Kong adding 16 new destinations to its cross-border high-speed rail (HSR) service from Jan 26, Ms Lim can now choose to visit more cities in China by train.

"I come to Hong Kong all the time, but it was only in recent years that I started touring around mainland China as well; the HSR makes it quite convenient," Ms Lim told The Straits Times.

On her last work trip to Hong Kong, in October and November 2025, she and her Singaporean friends travelled via the HSR to Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Dongguan in southern Guangdong province.

Destinations on the 16 new routes include some of eastern China's tourism hot spots and business hubs, such as Nanjing and Wuxi in Jiangsu, and Hefei in Anhui, as well as other cities in Fujian and Guangdong.

The expansion, which will connect passengers from West Kowloon Station directly to 110 Chinese cities, could enhance Hong Kong's growing role as a "stopover city" for both international and domestic visitors.

A popular sleeper train service to Shanghai, which first started operating in June 2025, will run daily from Jan 26, up from four times a week.