Hong Kong’s high-speed rail brought in HK$2.5 billion in revenue last year: minister

Transport minister Mable Chan also says number of patrons in first eight months of 2024, about 21 million, surpassed total for all of last year

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Figures from the city’s transport minister show the number of daily commuters reached their highest recorded level this year on February 12, at about 120,000. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 6:22pm, 11 Dec 2024

The local segment of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed rail generated HK$2.5 billion (US$321.5 million) in revenue last year for the MTR Corporation, the transport minister has said.

In a written reply to a lawmaker on Wednesday, Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan also revealed the number of patrons for the local segment in the first eight months of 2024, about 21 million, had surpassed the total for all of last year.

The minister noted the average passenger volume for those commuting to and from West Kowloon terminus on a daily basis was about 72,000 as of October this year, with 80.5 per cent of those trips involving short-distance destinations.

The figures from the minister showed the number of daily commuters reached their highest recorded level this year on February 12, hitting about 120,000.

“The average daily patronage in the first 10 months of 2024 has reached nearly 90 per cent of the forecast in 2018,” Chan said in her reply to legislator Gary Zhang Xinyu.

She added that short-haul service patronage over the same period had reached 87 per cent of 2018 levels, while use of long-haul services stood at 95 per cent.