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The through train takes two hours and 58 minutes to cover the 181-kilometre journey. It can carry up to 640 passengers per journey.
There is a baggage allowance of 20 kilograms for each passenger.
Immigration facilities are set up at both ends of the link, thus eliminating the need for extended sessions at the frontier.
1.
Only the following three categories of passengers are allowed to use the service: Holders of People's Republic of China passports with visas for Hong Kong, Foreigners who either have visas for Hong Kong or who are nationals of countries not requiring visas for Hong Kong.
2.
3.
Holders of Hong Kong re-entry permits.
A timetable has been disigned to connect, on departure from Guangzhou, with the overnight express from Beijing, and on return in the evening the last flight from Guangzhou to Beijing.
To cope with growing passenger demand, an extra through train has been operating since February 11, 1980. It arrives in Hong Kong at 2.06 p.m. and leaves for Guangzhou at 4 p.m.
According to a Kowloon-Canton Railway spokesman, any further increase in passenger through train services will not be considered before the KCR electrification programme is completed at the end of next year.
D. Taxi Services
China Communication (Motors) Trading and Development Corporation of Hong Kong, together with Japan Automobile Sales Company, was to sign a contract with authorities in Fushan () to provide taxi services to the county, it was reported on August 22, 1980.
Under the agreement, Japan Automobile would spend $1.5 million on cars and auto parts and on providing technicians. In exchange, the municipal government of Fushan will spend a similar amount on land and a repair facility and on providing employees, including drivers.
E.
Man Kam To Vehicular Traffic
A Hong Kong Government spokesman said on January 7, 1981 that Man Kam To bridge would not be opened to private cars in the foreseeable future.
The spokesman was commenting on advertisements in the local Press which reported that simplified immigration procedures were to be introduced at the Man Kam To border, allowing Hong Kong motorists to cross to and from Shenzhen without difficulty or delay.
He further pointed out that the bridge was already carrying a heavy load of freight vehicles which would likely increase in the coming months, and that the capacity of the immigration control point and the approach roads would preclude transit by private cars for a long time.
However, the planned bus service to Guangdong would be permitted to use the Man Kam To crossing when it came into operation in March, the spokesman added.
3.
CARGO FIGURES
A.
By KCR through Lo Wu
On June 13, 1980, the general manager of the Kowloon-Canton Railway, Mr. Douglas Howes, said that the KCR was studying plans to boost freight traffic, including transporting containers, between Hong Kong and China.
He said as a result of China's modernisation programme, the volume of goods
carried by rail had been increasing rapidly in the past two years.
In 1978, the total tonnage of commercial cargo carried by rail between Hong Kong and China shot up to 1.8 million tons, a 25 per cent increase compared with the previous year. Last year, it further increased to about two million tons.
In the first four months of 1980, the volume of goods transported by rail was 60 per cent more than that carried during the corresponding period in 1979.
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