preview

Aganist the Guangzhou-Shenzhen- Hong Kong Express Railway

Decent Essays

The confrontations about the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Railway (XRL) came to an end four years ago as the Chief Executive Donald Tsang approved the implementation of this cross-cities high-speed rail link. (Hong Kong Government, 2009) Yet, related debates have not ended. While some citizens oppose to the construction of this rail link, the government and few others insist that the project will be beneficial to Hong Kong. However, this essay argues that XRL should not be built because it is not, both economically and socially, beneficial to our city.

It seems that the express rail link will provide huge benefits to the economy and society of Hong Kong. With 100,000 passengers flow projected by the government, XRL is said to bring various benefits to the city. (Hong Kong Government, 2009).
The government claims that XRL can further enhance the exchange and cooperation between Mainland and Hong Kong economically and socially. As a result of such closer tie with Mainland, Hong Kong will enjoy an $87 billion benefit from time saved by passengers, more investment from the Mainland, and also, about 21,000 job opportunities. Overall,

Yet, the above expectation on XRL may be overly optimistic. It is likely that the rail will face fierce competition from its counterparts. In fact, by 2020, 78.95% of trains running along the rail will end their services at Shenzhen. Apart from this, 278,960 people travel between Hong Kong Shenzhen every day by the East Rail Line,

Get Access