Express Rail Link to China

     We thought for awhile that this construction site was part of the new express rail system that will link Hong Kong to mainland China.  But it's not.  This is reclaimed land on the harbor close to the ferry piers on Hong Kong Island.  You can tell it's reclaimed because it's flat.  Soon there will be yet more office buildings going up here.  Fill, build.  Fill, build.  That's the Hong Kong harbor story.  Some say that eventually you won't need the ferry to cross the harbor to go to Kowloon.  It will all get filled in and you'll be able to walk over there. 

     So you need to go ahead and get yourself over to Kowloon if you want to ride on that new express train to China.  And then you'll need to wait 3 years or so for the first train to arrive.  That's because the Hong Kong section of this new Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link is still being built.  It's taking awhile because most of the 16 miles of track in Hong Kong will be underground.  Supposedly the trip from Kowloon to Shenzhen on this new train will take 12 minutes.  Right now using the current subway and train system it probably takes between 1 and 1 1/2 hours, depending on the time of day that you travel.

     Hopefully there are plans in the works for an express immigration system, too.  As it is now, you have to stand in line with your passport and have an agent check it over when you leave Hong Kong and stand in another line to enter China.  Then you have to do it all over again to leave China and to re-enter Hong Kong on your return trip.  So what if it takes only 12 minutes for the train trip, if you have to stand in line for 30 minutes or more to get through immigration each way.

     What's the holdup for developing an express immigration system for everyone making this crossing, or even eliminating it, since Hong Kong is part of China now?  My guess is that much of the sentiment against it is here in Hong Kong.  In my last post I mentioned the protest here yesterday against allowing mainland Chinese to drive over the border into Hong Kong.  A few years ago protesters demonstrated against the building of this new express rail link with the mainland.  

     There's plenty of uncertainty and fear here about what a closer relationship to China is going to mean in the years to come.  Largely due to being colonized by the British, Hong Kong really is different from China.  It appears that many Hong Kongers want to keep it that way.