Hong Kong to spend at least HK$100 million studying new cross-border rail link

Hong Kong authorities plan to spend at least HK$100 million (US$12.87 million) to study the design of a cross-border railway project that will feature a co-location checkpoint in Shenzhen, according to insiders.

Sources said on Friday the Hong Kong–Shenzhen Western Express Railway would join Hung Shui Kiu, Ha Tsuen and Lau Fau Shan in the New Territories with Shenzhen Bay and Qianhai in mainland China.

“The cross-border checkpoint will be located in mainland China and adopt a co-location arrangement,” one insider said.

Such checkpoints allow travellers to clear immigration channels in both jurisdictions at a single site. The arrangement has been implemented at the high-speed railway station in West Kowloon and at the Shenzhen Bay control point.

One source said the exact location of the stations had yet to be confirmed, but the government planned to spend at least HK$100 million on the study, which would be open for tender.

In his budget address last month, finance chief Paul Chan Mo-po said the administration was working with mainland authorities to push the railway project forward, and expected the study to be launched this year.