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Monday 23 November 2009
Guangzhou high-speed rail debate gains pace
As China introduces its nationwide high-speed rail network, the debate about whether Hong Kong should foot the bill for an express line to link into the mainland’s rail grid in Guangzhou is heating up.
As China introduces its nationwide high-speed rail network, the debate about whether Hong Kong should foot the bill for an express line to link into the mainland’s rail grid in Guangzhou is heating up.
At present, the train journey from Hong Kong to Guangzhou takes one hour and 45 minutes, but once the planned express link begins operating in 2015, travel time will be reduced to 48 minutes.
It is also envisaged that trains will depart for Guangzhou every 15 minutes during peak periods against hourly intervals, according to MTR Pearl River Delta planning manager Albert Yuen.
MTR Corp has been appointed by the Hong Kong government, one of its shareholders, to design, construct and operate the Hong Kong section of the Express Rail.
Those in favour of building the link point to the key role that Guangzhou will play as a transport hub in the Pearl River Delta and the need for Hong Kong to be connected to the grid via a high-speed line.
By 2020, the Shibi station in Guangzhou will have three high-speed rail connections, said Professor Zheng Tianxiang, a transport specialist at Sun Yat Sen University.
One will run to Hong Kong, one north to Wuhan and Guangzhou, and one to the west. The latter will branch into two high-speed links, one to Guangxi capital Nanning; the other to Guizhou province.
In addition, by 2020, the Shibi station will also be linked to a 2,200 kilometre intercity light rail in the Pearl River Delta that will cost 200 billion yuan (HK$227 billion), said Zheng. This light rail will link nine cities in the Pearl River Delta - Dongguan, Guangzhou, Huizhou, Foshan, Jiangmen, Shenzhen, Zhaoqing, Zhongshan and Zhuhai.
Hong Kong businesspeople would welcome a high-speed link to the extensive mainland transport grid, said Nomura analyst Jiong Shao.
“The Express Rail Link between Hong Kong and Guangzhou will likely increase business travel between these two cities significantly,” said Shao. “Today’s rail links between Hong Kong and the mainland are not very suitable for business travellers. The Express Rail Link should help businesses in both cities.”
But others are not convinced.
“It does no good to say this will help business,” said commentator Jake van der Kamp.
“If business is helped to greater profits then business can pay for the means of making these greater profits. If business then says that the means - a HK$65.2 billion railway - is greater than the extra profits that can be made by building the railway, then we have a good argument for not building it,” said Van der Kamp.
“It all comes down to the huge cost of this thing - almost HK$10,000 per head for every man, woman and child in Hong Kong. We’re going to pay that out of one pocket or another, out of a pocket called ticket price or taxes.”
In isolation that price tag might not appear justifiable, said Macquarie analyst Anderson Chow.
“But we have to take into context China, which is building 18,000 kilometres of high-speed rail by the end of 2020. That will change how people move in five to 10 years and if Hong Kong is not part of this, that will be a big issue.”
The mainland’s Ministry of Railways plans to have the high-speed rail grid operating by 2020 and the total cost of this ambitious project will exceed two trillion yuan, estimated Zheng.
“It is not too costly. There will be demand for the service,” said Zheng, adding the project would drive demand for many inputs, including rolling stock and raw materials.
In Guangdong, 2,800 kilometres of high-speed rail will be in place by 2020, he added, and given that the cost of the rail on the mainland is 150 million yuan per kilometre, the Guangdong network alone will cost 420 billion yuan.
By 2013, the high-speed service on China’s east coast from Shenzhen to Shanghai will be completed. In 2015, Hong Kong will be connected by high-speed rail to Shenzhen, enabling passengers to travel from Hong Kong to Shanghai in eight hours.
By 2020, Guangzhou will have a high-speed rail link to Nanning, capital of the Guangxi region, and another fast connection to Guizhou province, both in the southwest.
“If Hong Kong doesn’t link with Guangzhou, it will fall behind,” said Zheng. “Hong Kong can’t afford to lag behind Guangzhou, Dongguan and Shenzhen.”
However, Hong Kong’s high-speed rail timetable has already fallen behind the construction in Guangdong and the rest of the mainland by several years.
By 2012, a high-speed railway will be completed that will go all the way from Beijing to Wuhan in central China and to Guangzhou down to Futian station in Shenzhen.
But the Hong Kong section of the high-speed rail will not begin operating until 2015.
Zheng warned that without a high-speed rail link to Guangzhou, Hong Kong would risk losing out to Shanghai as China’s hub.
By 2011, a 350 km/h high-speed rail link between Shanghai and Zhejiang provincial capital Hangzhou, costing 29.7 billion yuan, will start operation and reduce travel time from over an hour to 38 minutes, according to media reports.
By 2012, Shanghai will be linked by a 300 km/h rail service to Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, which will cost 39.45 billion yuan and cut travel time to 72 minutes from two hours, reported Xinhua.
Shanghai will also have a 350 km/h high-speed rail link to Beijing by 2012, which will cut travel time from 10 to four hours.
But Van der Kamp sees it differently.
“The fact of the matter is that we are building this railway because a group of bureaucrats in Beijing, who do not understand cost-benefit considerations, have come to the view that a high-speed railway network would be a boost to national pride.
“For Hong Kong’s part, we are putting in this rail link only because someone across the border said: ‘Boo!’ And our bureaucrats conceive it their job to jump every time anyone across the border says it.”
Professional Commons, a Hong Kong non-profit organisation, proposed an alternative plan for the Express Rail, which its chairman Albert Lai said would cost HK$25 billion. The Hong Kong government has countered by costing Professional Commons’ plan at HK$43 billion.
Under Professional Commons’ proposal, the Express Rail station in Hong Kong would be at Kam Sheung Road in the New Territories, which would be linked by train to the existing Airport Express stations in Hong Kong and Kowloon.
“With this option, we will have three million people in Hong Kong who will have shorter journey times compared to the government option,” said Lai.
“In overall passenger time, our option is superior.”
Under the Hong Kong government and MTR’s plan, Hong Kong’s Express Rail station will be in West Kowloon, which means one million people would enjoy shorter journey times compared with Professional Commons’ proposal, said Lai.
But MTR Express Rail Link general manager Paul Lo Po-hing said the Kam Sheung Road option was not feasible, as it was too close to Shenzhen.
2 comments:
Guangzhou high-speed rail debate gains pace
Price tag and value of service split opinion
Toh Han Shih
23 November 2009
As China introduces its nationwide high-speed rail network, the debate about whether Hong Kong should foot the bill for an express line to link into the mainland’s rail grid in Guangzhou is heating up.
At present, the train journey from Hong Kong to Guangzhou takes one hour and 45 minutes, but once the planned express link begins operating in 2015, travel time will be reduced to 48 minutes.
It is also envisaged that trains will depart for Guangzhou every 15 minutes during peak periods against hourly intervals, according to MTR Pearl River Delta planning manager Albert Yuen.
MTR Corp has been appointed by the Hong Kong government, one of its shareholders, to design, construct and operate the Hong Kong section of the Express Rail.
Those in favour of building the link point to the key role that Guangzhou will play as a transport hub in the Pearl River Delta and the need for Hong Kong to be connected to the grid via a high-speed line.
By 2020, the Shibi station in Guangzhou will have three high-speed rail connections, said Professor Zheng Tianxiang, a transport specialist at Sun Yat Sen University.
One will run to Hong Kong, one north to Wuhan and Guangzhou, and one to the west. The latter will branch into two high-speed links, one to Guangxi capital Nanning; the other to Guizhou province.
In addition, by 2020, the Shibi station will also be linked to a 2,200 kilometre intercity light rail in the Pearl River Delta that will cost 200 billion yuan (HK$227 billion), said Zheng. This light rail will link nine cities in the Pearl River Delta - Dongguan, Guangzhou, Huizhou, Foshan, Jiangmen, Shenzhen, Zhaoqing, Zhongshan and Zhuhai.
Hong Kong businesspeople would welcome a high-speed link to the extensive mainland transport grid, said Nomura analyst Jiong Shao.
“The Express Rail Link between Hong Kong and Guangzhou will likely increase business travel between these two cities significantly,” said Shao. “Today’s rail links between Hong Kong and the mainland are not very suitable for business travellers. The Express Rail Link should help businesses in both cities.”
But others are not convinced.
“It does no good to say this will help business,” said commentator Jake van der Kamp.
“If business is helped to greater profits then business can pay for the means of making these greater profits. If business then says that the means - a HK$65.2 billion railway - is greater than the extra profits that can be made by building the railway, then we have a good argument for not building it,” said Van der Kamp.
“It all comes down to the huge cost of this thing - almost HK$10,000 per head for every man, woman and child in Hong Kong. We’re going to pay that out of one pocket or another, out of a pocket called ticket price or taxes.”
In isolation that price tag might not appear justifiable, said Macquarie analyst Anderson Chow.
“But we have to take into context China, which is building 18,000 kilometres of high-speed rail by the end of 2020. That will change how people move in five to 10 years and if Hong Kong is not part of this, that will be a big issue.”
The mainland’s Ministry of Railways plans to have the high-speed rail grid operating by 2020 and the total cost of this ambitious project will exceed two trillion yuan, estimated Zheng.
“It is not too costly. There will be demand for the service,” said Zheng, adding the project would drive demand for many inputs, including rolling stock and raw materials.
In Guangdong, 2,800 kilometres of high-speed rail will be in place by 2020, he added, and given that the cost of the rail on the mainland is 150 million yuan per kilometre, the Guangdong network alone will cost 420 billion yuan.
By 2013, the high-speed service on China’s east coast from Shenzhen to Shanghai will be completed. In 2015, Hong Kong will be connected by high-speed rail to Shenzhen, enabling passengers to travel from Hong Kong to Shanghai in eight hours.
By 2020, Guangzhou will have a high-speed rail link to Nanning, capital of the Guangxi region, and another fast connection to Guizhou province, both in the southwest.
“If Hong Kong doesn’t link with Guangzhou, it will fall behind,” said Zheng. “Hong Kong can’t afford to lag behind Guangzhou, Dongguan and Shenzhen.”
However, Hong Kong’s high-speed rail timetable has already fallen behind the construction in Guangdong and the rest of the mainland by several years.
By 2012, a high-speed railway will be completed that will go all the way from Beijing to Wuhan in central China and to Guangzhou down to Futian station in Shenzhen.
But the Hong Kong section of the high-speed rail will not begin operating until 2015.
Zheng warned that without a high-speed rail link to Guangzhou, Hong Kong would risk losing out to Shanghai as China’s hub.
By 2011, a 350 km/h high-speed rail link between Shanghai and Zhejiang provincial capital Hangzhou, costing 29.7 billion yuan, will start operation and reduce travel time from over an hour to 38 minutes, according to media reports.
By 2012, Shanghai will be linked by a 300 km/h rail service to Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, which will cost 39.45 billion yuan and cut travel time to 72 minutes from two hours, reported Xinhua.
Shanghai will also have a 350 km/h high-speed rail link to Beijing by 2012, which will cut travel time from 10 to four hours.
But Van der Kamp sees it differently.
“The fact of the matter is that we are building this railway because a group of bureaucrats in Beijing, who do not understand cost-benefit considerations, have come to the view that a high-speed railway network would be a boost to national pride.
“For Hong Kong’s part, we are putting in this rail link only because someone across the border said: ‘Boo!’ And our bureaucrats conceive it their job to jump every time anyone across the border says it.”
Professional Commons, a Hong Kong non-profit organisation, proposed an alternative plan for the Express Rail, which its chairman Albert Lai said would cost HK$25 billion. The Hong Kong government has countered by costing Professional Commons’ plan at HK$43 billion.
Under Professional Commons’ proposal, the Express Rail station in Hong Kong would be at Kam Sheung Road in the New Territories, which would be linked by train to the existing Airport Express stations in Hong Kong and Kowloon.
“With this option, we will have three million people in Hong Kong who will have shorter journey times compared to the government option,” said Lai.
“In overall passenger time, our option is superior.”
Under the Hong Kong government and MTR’s plan, Hong Kong’s Express Rail station will be in West Kowloon, which means one million people would enjoy shorter journey times compared with Professional Commons’ proposal, said Lai.
But MTR Express Rail Link general manager Paul Lo Po-hing said the Kam Sheung Road option was not feasible, as it was too close to Shenzhen.
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