Better connected: The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express will cut travel time to Guangzhou.

The Executive Council has told the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation to further plan the proposed Northern Link and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express as a combined project.

Cross-boundary travellers in the western New Territories rely mainly on road-based transport. There is also no east-west rail linking the region.

The Northern Link will offer a fast and convenient service to the boundary. It can be used for travelling between the West Rail's Kam Sheung Road Station and Lok Ma Chau Station. They can also use the new rail's station at Chau Tau, Yuen Long, to change to the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line for East Rail travel.

Travel time

The travel time between Hong Kong and Guangzhou by the Kowloon-Guangdong Through Train is about 100 minutes. The express rail link will cut this to an hour.

The 30km-long Hong Kong section of the link will terminate at West Kowloon. It will share tracks with the Kowloon Southern Link now under construction, the section of West Rail between Nam Cheong Station and Kam Sheung Road, and then the Northern Link before branching out from Chau Tau to a dedicated track, on a viaduct and in a tunnel, for connection with the express rail's Mainland section at Huanggang.

The Mainland section will be connected to new high-speed national rail networks now being developed, including the Beijing-Guangzhou and Hangzhou-Fuzhou-Shenzhen Passenger Lines. It will also connect to the Rapid Transit System being developed in the Pearl River Delta.