Message from Legislative Councillor (Functional
Constituency Representative for Wholesale & Retail)
立法會議員之話 批發及零售界功能組別代表
Hon. Peter Shiu
邵家輝先生
Co-location Arrangement
for the benefits of people and business
Developing from scratch to construction over 10 years and more, the Hong Kong
Section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) is finally
expected to commence operation by the third quarter of next year. By the time,
people can enjoy much more convenience it brings, not only for Hongkongers
going to China for business, tour or residence; but also for Mainlanders coming
here for shopping, leisure and trade. However, whether the XRL can optimize its
efficiency all depends if the co-location arrangement is to be put in place; in case
of not, its advantages would be greatly reduced.
According to the official estimation, when the Hong Kong section of the XRL is put
into service, there will be 200-plus trains for short-distance routes and more than
ten long-haul trains to some ten major cities in Mainland every day. Even more cities
can be reached by interchanging trains. The journey will become comfortable and
more time-saving. For example, the XRL will take only 48 minutes to travel from
Hong Kong to Guangzhou area, compared to the existing MTR Intercity Through
Train and cross-boundary coach which take 2 hours and 3 hours respectively.
Travelling time will be shortened by more than half. As time is money, the high
efficiency of the XRL speaks for itself.
From a macro perspective, Hong Kong is a small economy that hardly stands alone
without strengthening co-operation with Mainland China. In case Hong Kong
is marginalized from the Mainland, it is unlikely to sustain in long term. In fact,
the XRL will connect with the “8 Verticals and 8 Horizontals” rail network on the
Mainland which is over 20,000 km in length. It is not just to help develop economic
co-operation between Hong Kong and the Mainland, but to facilitate Mainlanders
visiting Hong Kong for travel and shopping which is a great boost to our local
market, beneficial to various industries like tourism, retail and catering.
高鐵一地兩檢
利民利商必不可少
由構思至建造耗時超過十年的廣深港高鐵香
港段，終於可望在來年第三季啟用通車，屆
時不管是港人到內地公幹、旅遊以至居住，
抑或內地居民來港購物遊玩以至經商，都會
方便得多。惟高鐵能否產生最大效益，關鍵
在於通關程序是否採用一地兩檢模式，不然
其帶來的好處只會大打折扣。
根據政府估計，當高鐵香港段啟用後，每天
有超過二百班車行走短途路線，另有逾十班
長途列車開往內地十個主要城市，乘客亦可
透過轉車到達其他城市，舒適方便之餘，交
通時間亦可大為節省。以平常較多港人前往
工作的廣州地區為例，由香港乘高鐵往廣州
的所需時間只是
48
分鐘，比現時約兩小時
港鐵直通車和逾三小時直通巴士的車程，足
足縮短一半有多。時間就是金錢，高鐵的效
能可謂不言而喻。
而且宏觀而言，香港只是一個小型經濟體，
若不加強與內地經濟合作，最終只會被邊緣
化，坐吃山崩。事實上，廣深港高鐵與內地
「八縱八橫」逾二萬公里長的高鐵網絡連
接，不單有助推進中港經濟合作，而且方便
更多內地居民來港旅遊購物，可望刺激本港
市道，給我們的旅遊、零售、飲食等多個行
業帶來裨益。
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