Published : 2025-04-04

On April 4, 1979, the Guangzhou-Kowloon through train service, which had been suspended for 30 years, resumed operation.

That morning, the first train departed from Guangzhou Railway Station to Hong Kong, with then Vice Minister of the Ministry of Railways of China, Geng Zhenlin (耿振林), hosting the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the resumption of service, and Sir Murray MacLehose, the Governor of Hong Kong, and his wife were among the first passengers.

Initially, the Guangzhou-Kowloon through train operated only one service per day, with a travel time of approximately three hours and a one-way fare of 53.5 Hong Kong dollars.

The Guangzhou-Kowloon through train was first built in 1911, and its service was interrupted twice, during World War II and after the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

After the PRC was established, the service was interrupted for the second time, with the British and Chinese sections of the railway terminating at Lo Wu Bridge, where passengers had to disembark at Lo Wu Station to cross the border and transfer to another train.

In the 1950s, then Premier of the State Council Zhou Enlai (周恩來) proposed to the British Hong Kong Government the resumption of through train services, but no agreement was reached due to political movements and other reasons.

In January 1979, following China's implementation of the Reform and Opening-up, the two sides discussed the resumption of train services again.

In March of the same year, representatives from the Guangzhou Railway Bureau and the Kowloon-Canton Railway Bureau formally signed the agreement.