SZ, HK airport rail route set

Shenzhen and Hong Kong have decided on the route of a planned high-speed rail link between the cities airports, a newspaper reported Thursday.

The Hong Kong-Shenzhen Airport Rail Link will run through Shenzhens Qianhai Bay in Shekou and parallel to the under-construction Yanjiang Expressway, the second expressway to link Shenzhen and Guangzhou. The link will include a seven-kilometer cross-sea tunnel, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported.

The rail will also link Qianhai and the Hung Shui Kiu Stop, an MTR light rail station, in Yuen Long, Hong Kong.

Donald Tsang, Hong Kongs chief executive, announced in his 2007-08 policy address an initiative to foster closer cooperation between the airports and study the feasibility of a direct rail link between them.

The two cities established a task force in January last year, which has commissioned experts to conduct a preliminary study on the project.

The project will encourage more passengers to use the two airports for transfer, with the aim of exploiting the respective competitive edges of the Hong Kong International Airport in international transport and the Shenzhen International Airport in domestic transport, so as to bring about increases in passengers for both airports.