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2. The Governor thought this would be possible. Guangzhou occupied an important position at the end of a great railway network and was also linked to Hong Kong by rail. Great importance was attached to this link in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong side were anxious that there should be complete cooperation between themselves and the Guangzhou authoriti es concerning this rail link. There had been a 100% increase in freight carried on this railway over the past eight years and there had been a 30% increase in the last year. The present railway was carrying approximately 2 million tons per annum and by the end of 1982 when the Kowloon to Shenzhen sector of the railway had been double-tracked and electrified the capacity would be tripled to 6 million tons per annum. These were the Hong Kong plans. He asked whether there were similar Chinese plans for increasing the capacity on the Shenzhen/Guangzhou section of the railway.
3. Mr Wu confirmed that there were plans but their exact nature was dependent on the volume of traffic that required to be carried over this sector. Last year a delegation from British Rail had paid a visit to China and it was proposed that British Rail should help to improve the existing link between Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Apart from double-tracking of the line, electrification was also being considered but whether this was necessary or not depended on the increase in the volume of traffic. The Governor asked if he could make an obvious point, ie that if the Chinese decided to electrify the line on their side of the border that they might consider using the same system as that being installed on the Hong Kong side in order that the two systems should be compatible. Mr Wu said that both the double-tracking and the possible electrification should be a question to be discussed between the Hong Kong and Chinese sides. In modernising the line there were difficulties both with technology and equipment. Last year the Minister of Rail- ways had agreed with the Chief Executive of British Rail that there should be cooperation and exchanges.
4. The Governor pointed out that British Rail had also advised the Hong Kong side about modifications to their railway. The company concerned was Transmark. Mr Wu had visited Britain last year and had seen railway facilities and factories producing railway equipment and also the Derby Research Centre. He had also travelled on the high speed train. The Governor remarked that British Rail had been an excellent company, had gone through a bad patch, but was now very good again. Mr Wu went on to say that he had also visited one of the very first railways that was more than 100 years old and where steam locomotives were still used. Modern railway technology had now replaced the old systems. A government official had pointed out to him that it had been decided to replace the steam locomotives but local
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