Hong Kong West Kowloon station

Train services

West Kowloon station is served by both short-distance and long-haul train services. Short-distance services consist of frequent services to mainland Chinese cities in neighbouring Guangdong province, including Shenzhen, Dongguan, and Guangzhou, while long-distance services link Hong Kong to major destinations in mainland China.^[12] Short-haul trains are operated by both the MTRC (the Vibrant Express) and China Railway, whereas long-haul trains are only operated by China Railway.

Both the MTRC and China Railway sell tickets for the other's trains. Ticket prices are set in Renminbi (RMB) which are used by China Railway's ticketing services. The MTRC use only Hong Kong Dollars (HKD) in which fares are set monthly based on China Railway's RMB prices and current conversion rates with the RMB. Seat selection and remaining seat information are not available on MTRC's online ticketing platform.^[13]

For all trains terminating at Hong Kong West Kowloon Station, according to the regulations outlined in the "Cross-Boundary Passenger Transport Organization Rules for Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-Speed Rail," onboard make-up ticket sales to Hong Kong West Kowloon Station are not available. In the event that passengers travel beyond the mainland China-Hong Kong border towards West Kowloon Station without the appropriate ticket, staff at Hong Kong West Kowloon Station will treat them as traveling without a valid ticket. As a result, passengers will be subject to a substantial additional fee based on the "Hong Kong Railway By-Laws."^[14]

Although the Express Rail Link has a design capacity of 20 trains per hour in each direction, the capacity is not expected to be fully utilised for some years.^[15][16]

More information High-speed Express Rail Link trainsAs of 18 March 2024 ...

v t e Guangdong–Hong Kong intercity trains
Legend
High-speed Express Rail Link trains As of 18 March 2024[17]
Guangzhou East Guangzhou South Qingsheng Humen Dongguan Changping Dongguan South Guangmingcheng Shenzhen North Futian Guangdong Hong Kong Hong Kong West Kowloon

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Short-haul services

More information Preceding station, China Railway High-speed ...

Preceding station	China Railway High-speed			Following station
Futian Terminus		Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong XRL Short-haul service		Terminus
Futian towards Shenzhen North
Futian towards Guangzhou South
Futian towards Guangzhou East

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Long-haul services^[18]

More information Preceding station, China Railway High-speed ...

Preceding station	China Railway High-speed			Following station
Shenzhen North towards Beijing West		Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong XRL Long-haul service		Terminus
Shenzhen North towards Changsha South
Shenzhen North towards Chengdu East
Shenzhen North towards Chongqing West
Shenzhen North towards Fuzhou
Futian towards Meizhou West
Shenzhen North towards Kunming South
Shenzhen North towards Nanning East
Shenzhen North towards Shanghai Hongqiao
Futian towards Shantou
Futian towards Shanwei
Shenzhen North towards Tianjin West
Futian towards Wuhan
Shenzhen North towards Xiamen
Shenzhen North towards Xi'an North
Shenzhen North towards Zhangjiajie West
Shenzhen North towards Zhanjiang West
Futian towards Zhaoqing East

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Ground transport

Related developments by the Hong Kong Government in West Kowloon, expect to improve the efficiency of road and pedestrian access routes, as well as to resolve a problematic traffic intersection in West Kowloon. These road developments hope to meet the transport needs of the entire area of the new development area of West Kowloon Cultural District and West Kowloon station after completion.

Transportation Study^[which?] identified the following specific road improvement measures:

• Build a connection from Austin Road West (near Canton Road) to Lin Cheung Road (Jordan Road north) via an underground carriageway, so that pedestrians will have unimpeded access and egress between West Kowloon Cultural District, West Kowloon station and Kowloon station
• Conduct Austin Road and Canton Road junction improvement works, including considering the widening of the Canton Road carriageway and expansion of the existing underground pedestrian tunnel system
• Other road improvement projects in West Kowloon will be directly connected to a newly developed area near the West Kowloon Highway, in order to reduce the load on the region's transport network

Platforms

The station serves both 16-car long-haul trains and shorter 8-car short-haul regional trains. As of July 2025, the station uses only 10 tracks (6 long-haul and 4 short-haul) with 14 platforms (6 long-haul and 4 short-haul) consisting of 5 island platforms and 4 side platforms. However, the station was designed with 15 tracks (9 long-haul and 6 short-haul) with 21 platforms (9 long-haul and 12 short-haul) using 9 island platforms and 3 side platforms for full operations.^[1][27][28]

The long-haul trains use longer platforms located on the eastern end of the station. This part of the station has 9 tracks with 4 island platforms and 1 side platform. However, as of 2022, it has only ever used 6 tracks with 2 side platforms and 2 island platforms (Platforms 4–9). Passengers here board and alight from the same platform. Each platform here has 4 lifts and 4 escalators (2 for arrivals and 2 for departures). This means an island platform has a total of 8 escalators and 8 lifts. The arrivals escalators and lifts connect to the Arrival concourse on B2 and the departures connecting from the Departure concourse on B3.^[29][30][1]

Short-haul trains (including MTRC's Vibrant Express) use shorter platforms which employ the Spanish solution arrangement, where platforms for boarding and alighting are separately located on opposing sides of the track. This reduces dwell times of trains in the station by reducing boarding and alighting times of passengers to allow for a higher frequency of service. Currently, there are only 4 tracks in use for the short-haul trains, with 3 island platforms (2 of which are used for alighting) and 2 side platforms with a total of 8 platforms (Platforms 11–18). The boarding platforms (both island and side) each use 3 lifts and 2 lifts. The alighting platforms each use 2 lifts and 3 escalators. In the future, there will be a total of 6 tracks (5 island platforms and 2 side platforms) serving short-haul trains.^[1][28]

←	Track 1	16-car train (Not in service)
	Platform /	Island platform (Not in service)
←	Track 2	16-car train (Not in service)
	Track 3	16-car train (Not in service)
	Platform /	Island platform (Platform 3 not in service)
←	Track 4	16-car train
	Track 5	16-car train
	Platform /	Island platform
←	Track 6	16-car train
	Track 7	16-car train
	Platform /	Island platform
←	Track 8	16-car train
	Track 9	16-car train
	Platform	Side platform
	Platform	Side platform (Boarding only)
←	Track 10	8-car train
	Platform /	Island platform (Alighting only)
←	Track 11	8-car train
	Platform /	Island platform (Boarding only)
←	Track 12	8-car train
	Platform /	Island platform (Alighting only)
←	Track 13	8-car train
	Platform /	Island platform (Boarding only, Platform 19 not in service)
←	Track 14	8-car train (Not in service)
	Platform /	Island platform (Not in service)
←	Track 15	8-car train (Not in service)
	Platform	Side platform (Not in service)

Exits

More information Exit, Sign ...

Exit	Sign	Image	Sign Indicating surrounding places	Floor
A (Upper Exit)	Austin Station		Tuen Ma Line Austin Station Exit C, China Hong Kong City and Harbour City	B1
A (Bottom Exit)				B2
B1	Wui Man Road Pick-up/Drop-off		Wui Man Road Pick-up/Drop-off	G (ground floor)
B2
B3
C	Lin Cheung Road		Lin Cheung Road	G (ground floor) (via lift and B3M tunnel)
D1	Green Plaza		Green Plaza	G (ground floor)
F
G	Xiqu Centre		China Ferry Terminal	B2
H	Green Plaza		Green Plaza	G (ground floor)
J1	Coach Pick-up/Drop-off		Coach Pick-up/Drop-off
J2
J3
K1	Austin station		Austin Station Exit B4 and Jordan Road	L1 Footbridge
K2	West Kowloon Station Bus Terminus		Bus terminal roof garden
K4	Sky Corridor		Sky Corridor and Observatory	L1 to L2 stair and slope
L	International Gateway Centre (IGC)		International Gateway Centre (IGC) ONE IGC (Ping An Tower) THREE IGC (UBS Tower)	L1 Footbridge
M	ELEMENTS		ELEMENTS and Kowloon Station
N	Austin station		Austin station Exit D4, Austin Road Cross-border bus terminal
Exits	Taxi station drop-off		Taxi station drop-off	B1
	Taxi station pick-up		Taxi station pick-up	B2
	Station car park		Station car park
: Wheelchair access

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Landscaping

West Kowloon station features an extensive green garden across the roof area of the station. It also sets up a large collection of cultural elements and entertainment spaces. Passengers can easily cross the ground floor between Kowloon station, Austin station and West Kowloon Cultural District, providing Hong Kong residents and visitors ample public open space and a comfortable green walking environment. Above the station, an area of approximately 8,900 square metres (96,000 sq ft) has been planted with a large number of plants and trees with traffic separated. All to create a pedestrian area, a green platform, and a wooded park that will integrate with the West Kowloon Cultural District harbourside parklands.

In addition, the West Kowloon station entrance lobby area features a green ecological leisure channel zone to tie in with the greenery on top of the building.

• 
  Station west side landscaping
• 
  Station east side landscaping
• 
  Station terrace
• 
  Station park

Area definition

The area delineated and coloured orange on Plan No. 1 and Annex 1 to Plan No. 1 in Schedule 2 of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (Co-location) Ordinance is declared as the Mainland Port Area. It comprises the China Customs and National Immigration Administration checkpoints on B2 and B3 levels, the platform areas on B4 level, and the passageways connecting them.^[43][44] A train compartment of a passenger train in operation on the Hong Kong Section of the Express Rail Link is to be regarded as part of the Mainland Port Area. This arrangement will facilitate mainland border control preclearance in Hong Kong. Reports in the British press suggested this area amounts to a cession of 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m²) of the station for a token annual rent of HK$ 1,000 (reported as being equivalent to £99).^[45]

Except for reserved matters, the Mainland Port Area is to be regarded as an area lying outside Hong Kong but lying within mainland China for the purposes of the application of the laws of mainland China, and of the laws of Hong Kong, in the Mainland Port Area; and the delineation of jurisdiction over the Mainland Port Area. It does not affect the boundary of the administrative division of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.^[46]

Although the West Kowloon HSR station is listed on a page titled ^[47] by the Shenzhen municipal government online, it is unclear whether this qualifies as a Port of Exit for the Shenzhen SEZ Visa on Arrival.

• 
  Entry stamp issued at juxtaposed controls at Hong Kong West Kowloon railway station
• 
  Exit stamp issued at juxtaposed controls at Hong Kong West Kowloon railway station on a Chinese passport

Implementation process

The joint meeting on 8 August 2017 of the Panel on Transport, the Panel on Security and the Panel on Administration of Justice and Legal Services of the Legislative Council passed the motion supporting the implementation of the "co-location arrangement" at the West Kowloon station.^[48]

The meeting on 15 November 2017 of the Legislative Council passed the motion on taking forward the follow-up tasks of the co-location arrangement at the West Kowloon station.^[49]

The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region signed the Co-operation Arrangement between the Mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on the Establishment of the Port at the West Kowloon Station of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link for Implementing Co-location Arrangement with the People's Government of Guangdong Province on 18 November 2017.^[44]

On 27 December 2017, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress approved the Co-operation Arrangement and stated that it is consistent with the Constitution of the People's Republic of China and the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.^[50]

English Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (Co-location) Ordinance

The Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link (Co-location) Bill was passed by the Legislative Council at the meeting on 14 June 2018. The Ordinance gazetted on 22 June 2018 and come into operation on a day to be appointed by the Secretary for Transport and Housing by notice published in the Hong Kong Government Gazette.^[51]

In the Court of First Instance of the High Court, Judge Anderson Chow refused the applications for leave to apply for judicial review by his decision dated 27 September 2017^[52] and 18 April 2018.^[53] He refused the applications for interim relief by his decision dated 14 August 2018.^[54] He granted the applications for leave to apply for judicial review but dismissed the substantive applications for judicial review by his judgment dated 13 December 2018.^[55]

Police station

The Ministry of Public Security Railway Public Security Bureau [zh]'s Shenzhen Railway Public Security Division operates the West Kowloon Station Police Station (西九龙站派出所) with jurisdiction over the mainland port area.^[56]