15. Owing to the increased number of foreigners being sent out of China via Shum Chun, baggage receipts at the junction station of the Kowloon-Canton Railway (British Section) and the Canton-Hankow Railway (Chinese Section), were up by 52.21%.
16. PASSENGER BOOKINGS. Local passenger traffic was better during this financial year. The increase was partly due to more picnickers and partly due to the fact that many refugees living on their capital found urban costs more than they could afford and so were driven to the villages along the railway. Both the passenger journeys and receipts were up by 11.55% and 2.92% respectively.
Non-local passenger traffic was poor. The regulations controlling emigrants and immigrants on both sides of the boundary forced the figure down by 68.99% for passenger journeys and 89.71% in receipts.
The figures both for purely local traffic and border passengers will be found summarized in Statement No. 7.
17. OPERATION. No major changes have been made in the timetable since 1st May, 1951, when it was reduced as far as possible without causing inconvenience to the travelling public. It appears to satisfy reasonable needs while being economic and flexible in operation.
18. Train punctuality has not been altogether satisfactory. Unavoidable delays have been caused by the Police Authorities holding up trains at Fanling Station in order to carry out searches for unauthorized persons trying to get into the pro- hibited border area.
No. of passenger
trains
Percentage
No. of trains on time
3,898
52.50
No. of trains delayed for less than
5 mins.
2,774
37.52
No. of trains delayed for 5 mins.
and over.
733
9.98
Total number of passenger trains
run:
7,405
100.00
4