March 3, 2022
SHENZHEN – A fully loaded cross-border freight train transporting medical supplies and living necessities departed from Shenzhen on Wednesday, with the goal of supporting Hong Kong in its battle against the fifth wave of the pandemic.
The train carried nearly 1.11 million rapid antigen test kits, 20,000 protective suits, and other medical supplies, totaling 50.1 metric tons
The train carried nearly 1.11 million rapid antigen test kits, 20,000 protective suits, and other medical supplies, totaling 50.1 metric tons.
The Shenzhen-Hong Kong freight trains travel a 20-kilometer route, from the Pinghu South National Logistics Hub in Shenzhen to the MTR Lo Wu Marshalling Yard in Hong Kong. The journey takes about 35 minutes.
The plan is to operate one train with 18 twenty-foot equivalent unit containers per day, and the service will expand as the cooperation between both sides becomes smoother, said Lin Haoyu, deputy director of Division of Port Control of Shenzhen Customs.
Lin said they are expediting the establishment of more information and technological devices at the station in order to increase efficiency.Mainland train drivers and attendants will have paperless clearance and hand over to Hong Kong counterparts without stepping out of the locomotives to avoid any possible infections.
A crane loads containers carrying supplies for Hong Kong at Pinghu South Railway Station in Shenzhen, south China’s Guangdong province, March 1, 2022. (LIANG XU / XINHUA)
The new cross-border freight railway route, together with several newly opened water expresses between Guangdong and Hong Kong, is helping to guarantee the steady flow medical and living supplies for Hong Kong and injecting more confidence in the city in its pandemic battle.
It also marks the resumption of cross-border freight trains to Hong Kong after more than a decade. Rail freight traffic first opened in 1962, to ensure timely fresh-food supply, such as pigs, cattle and sheep, but it ended when all fresh cargo shipments were changed to road transportation around 2010.