High-speed sleeper trains are being introduced between Hong Kong and both Beijing and Shanghai from 15 June, the South China Morning Post reports.
According to China Railway, the new overnight trains will take half the time of existing sleeper services, arriving at Beijing’s West station in just 12 hours and 30 minutes, and taking only 11 hours and 14 minutes to get to Shanghai Hongqiao station. Both routes will operate from Friday to Monday.
The Beijing-bound train will leave Hong Kong at 6:24 pm and arrive in the capital at 6:53 am the next day. The Shanghai service will depart at 7:49 pm, arriving in Shanghai at 6:45 am the next day.
[See more: Major railroad projects are underway in Zhuhai and Guangzhou]
Ticket prices have yet to be announced, but it is expected they will be comparable to plane tickets.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu welcomed the new train services, describing them as “convenient and fast.” He said they would save travellers time as well as hotel costs.
The new services also have “significant meaning in fostering the people-to-people, business-to-business exchanges and the integration between Hong Kong and the mainland,” Lee added.
