Brief Background of Project

The Hong Kong Section of XRL, which will link West Kowloon Terminus in Hong Kong to the Guangzhou South Railway Station at Guangzhou Shibi through the Futian Station and the Longhua Station at Shenzhen and the Humen Station at Dongguan, will form part of the national high-speed rail network. By means of this new high-speed rail corridor, the journey time between Guangzhou and urban area of Hong Kong would be reduced from 100 minutes to about 50 minutes.

The Hong Kong Section of the XRL will run along a dedicated corridor from a new terminus at West Kowloon to the boundary near Huanggang for connection with the Mainland Section of the XRL. The Regional Express Line envisaged in Railway Development Strategy 2000 now becomes the Hong Kong Section of the XRL.

Alignment of Hong Kong Section of XRL

Longitudinal Section of Hong Kong Section of XRL

West Kowloon Terminus

Emergency rescue station and stabling sidings at Shek Kong

Ventilation building

Ventilation building is an integral part of an underground railway system and is needed for a certain length of railway tunnel. Its main function is to exchange the air inside and outside the tunnel so as to keep the air ventilation of the railway system. In case of emergency, ventilation building can also act as an emergency rescue facility for rescue teams to enter the tunnel for rescue operations. As the train is powered by electricity, it emits no exhaust, while ventilation building itself would not produce air pollution. Thus, ventilation building will not affect the environmental quality of the adjacent residents under normal train operation.

The design and appearance of ventilation building will also take into account the surrounding environment and the visual aspects as much as possible. The MTRCL will also carry out necessary greening works in the surroundings so as to minimize the visual impact brought by the ventilation building.

A typical example of existing ventilation building