61-538: Vibrant Express ( Chinese : 動感號 ), also known as MTR CRH380A or MTR380A is a high-speed train operated by Hong Kong government-owned public transport operator MTR . It was manufactured by Chinese state-owned manufacturer CSR Qingdao Sifang (now CRRC Qingdao Sifang) based on the CRH380A Hexie EMUs developed for China Railway . Nine 8-car trainsets were ordered by the Hong Kong government through
122-470: A border control point between mainland China and Hong Kong . The area has been effectively ceded to mainland China for a token HK $ 1,000 a year in rent. Since September 2018, mainland Chinese immigration and police personnel operate exclusively within the area, and the laws of mainland China , rather than Hong Kong, are enforced. This arrangement was controversial both before and after its implementation. Pro-democracy advocates were concerned about
183-749: 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 m ) of the station for a token annual rent of HK$ 1,000 (reported as being equivalent to £99). Except for reserved matters,
244-399: A 2-2 configuration and are located on the two end cars of the train. The class feature floral patterns in silver grey and rose red on the seats as well as the floor and walls. Each seat is provided with a reading light an on-board audio and TV entertainment system with a headphone jack. TVs are located at the center and ends of the coach. Coat hooks are featured on the side of every row (next to
305-503: A certain extent in South Korea , remain virtually identical to traditional characters, with variations between the two forms largely stylistic. There has historically been a debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters . Because the simplifications are fairly systematic, it is possible to convert computer-encoded characters between the two sets, with the main issue being ambiguities in simplified representations resulting from
366-473: A foldable seat table. Two wheelchair spaces are located on the seventh of the train. Foot Rests are available in First Class. There are 511 second class seats located in the six intermediate carriages of the train. The second class coaches use 3-2 seat configuration with a mixture of orange, grey and red seats. Coat hooks are available on the sides of every row (next to the windows). 68 first class seats are in
427-549: 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. The original scheduled opening date of 2012
488-559: A selective invitation to tender (Contract 840) for the procurement of rolling stock to operate on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) based on the requirements of having nine 8-car trainsets and the maximum operational speed of 350 km/h (217 mph). MTR's procurement team, after assessing the tender's qualifications announced in March 2012 that CSR Qingdao Sifang had been awarded with
549-597: 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. 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
610-798: Is 産 (also the accepted form in Japan and Korea), while in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan the accepted form is 產 (also the accepted form in Vietnamese chữ Nôm ). The PRC tends to print material intended for people in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and overseas Chinese in traditional characters. For example, versions of the People's Daily are printed in traditional characters, and both People's Daily and Xinhua have traditional character versions of their website available, using Big5 encoding. Mainland companies selling products in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan use traditional characters in order to communicate with consumers;
671-587: Is a retronym applied to non-simplified character sets in the wake of widespread use of simplified characters. Traditional characters are commonly used in Taiwan , Hong Kong , and Macau , as well as in most overseas Chinese communities outside of Southeast Asia. As for non-Chinese languages written using Chinese characters, Japanese kanji include many simplified characters known as shinjitai standardized after World War II, sometimes distinct from their simplified Chinese counterparts . Korean hanja , still used to
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#1732854633921732-483: The Chinese Commercial News , World News , and United Daily News all use traditional characters, as do some Hong Kong–based magazines such as Yazhou Zhoukan . The Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified characters. DVDs are usually subtitled using traditional characters, influenced by media from Taiwan as well as by the two countries sharing the same DVD region , 3. With most having immigrated to
793-726: The Hong Kong Government Gazette . After a ceremony to "mark the commissioning of the Mainland Port Area" was held jointly by Frank Chan , Secretary for Transport and Housing, and "a leading Communist party official from Guangdong province ", democracy activists noted that it constituted an erosion of the SAR 's autonomy, with Tanya Chan reported as telling local radio that "the unlawful and unconstitutional joint checkpoint has been implemented forcefully — it has caused an irreparable damage to our legal system and rule of law." Chief Executive Carrie Lam , however, denied that there
854-599: The Standard Form of National Characters . These forms were predominant in written Chinese until the middle of the 20th century, when various countries that use Chinese characters began standardizing simplified sets of characters, often with characters that existed before as well-known variants of the predominant forms. Simplified characters as codified by the People's Republic of China are predominantly used in mainland China , Malaysia, and Singapore. "Traditional" as such
915-474: The COVID-19 pandemic , the Hong Kong government suspended all high-speed rail services from 30 January 2020. The service reopened on 8 January 2023. Two different materials were used for the body of the train cars: aluminium alloy and fibre-reinforced plastics (FRP) . Aluminium alloy was chosen for use on most of the body due to its low weight and high strength so safe high-speed performance could be achieved. For
976-539: The Kensiu language . Hong Kong West Kowloon railway station Hong Kong West Kowloon station (abbreviated WEK ) is the southern terminus of and the only station on the Hong Kong section of the Guangshengang XRL . The station connects to China's high-speed rail (HSR) network across the border through dedicated tunnels and includes a Mainland Port Area where the laws of (Mainland) China are enforced. It
1037-632: The MTR Corporation and delivered between 2016 and 2017. It is the first high-speed train produced by CRRC not operated by China Railway. The train runs between West Kowloon station and Guangzhou South station on the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link . Vibrant Express is based on the CRH380A electric multiple units (EMUs) high-speed trains designed and manufactured by CSR . In April 2011, MTR announced
1098-628: 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
1159-622: The Shanghainese -language character U+20C8E 𠲎 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-20C8E —a composition of 伐 with the ⼝ 'MOUTH' radical—used instead of the Standard Chinese 嗎 ; 吗 . Typefaces often use the initialism TC to signify the use of traditional Chinese characters, as well as SC for simplified Chinese characters . In addition, the Noto, Italy family of typefaces, for example, also provides separate fonts for
1220-949: 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. 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
1281-570: 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 . Although
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#17328546339211342-479: The Mainland Port Area, leading to human rights concerns. 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 designated areas on B2 and B3 levels, the platform areas on B4 level as well as the connecting passageways. A train compartment of
1403-647: The People's Republic of China and the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region . 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
1464-498: The People's Republic of China, traditional Chinese characters are standardised according to the Table of Comparison between Standard, Traditional and Variant Chinese Characters . Dictionaries published in mainland China generally show both simplified and their traditional counterparts. There are differences between the accepted traditional forms in mainland China and elsewhere, for example the accepted traditional form of 产 in mainland China
1525-456: The RMB. Seat selection and remaining seat information are not available on MTRC's online ticketing platform. 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
1586-571: The United States during the second half of the 19th century, Chinese Americans have long used traditional characters. When not providing both, US public notices and signs in Chinese are generally written in traditional characters, more often than in simplified characters. In the past, traditional Chinese was most often encoded on computers using the Big5 standard, which favored traditional characters. However,
1647-620: The West Kowloon HSR station is listed on a page titled by the Shenzhen municipal government online, it is unclear whether this qualifies as a Port of Exit for the Shenzhen SEZ Visa on Arrival . 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
1708-411: The applications for leave to apply for judicial review but dismissed the substantive applications for judicial review by his judgment dated 13 December 2018. Since the Mainland Port Area began operations, there have been several reported cases of travellers being detained or arrested by mainland officials in Hong Kong. In one case, Simon Cheng , a Hong Kong resident working for the British consulate
1769-526: The capacity is not expected to be fully utilised for some years. Short-haul services Long-haul services 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
1830-520: The closely related CRH380A trainsets operated by China Railway , the Vibrant Express does not offer higher-end premium and business class seating or have buffet cars. This is because the Vibrant Express are short-haul trains that service only between Guangzhou South and West Kowloon . Free Wi-Fi is provided to all passengers. Every car has baggage racks located above the seats and multi-standard power sockets . All seats are reclining and include
1891-516: The contract worth HK$ 1.74 billion. The first train arrived in Hong Kong on 26 September 2016 at River Trade Terminal , Tuen Mun District , where it was then delivered to Shek Kong Stabling Sidings and Emergency Rescue station. On 23 September 2018, West Kowloon station and the Hong Kong section of the XRL began commercial operations. MTR-0252 brought the first passengers (including reporters) from West Kowloon station to Shenzhen North station . Due to
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1952-406: 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
2013-559: The erosion of Hong Kong's freedoms and autonomy under the " One Country, Two Systems " framework, and the Hong Kong Bar Association stated that the arrangement caused "the integrity of the Basic Law " to be "irreparably breached" and would "severely undermine" confidence in the rule of law in Hong Kong. Notably, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights , which applies in Hong Kong, does not apply in
2074-442: 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." Although the Express Rail Link has a design capacity of 20 trains per hour in each direction,
2135-841: The future, there will be a total of 6 tracks (5 island platforms and 2 side platforms) serving short-haul trains. A : [REDACTED] Austin station [REDACTED] B : Wui Man Road Pick-up/Drop-off [REDACTED] C : Lin Cheung Road (closed) [REDACTED] D : Green Plaza [REDACTED] F : Green Plaza [REDACTED] G : Xiqu Centre [REDACTED] H : Green Plaza [REDACTED] J : Coach Pick-up/Drop-off [REDACTED] K1 : [REDACTED] Austin station [REDACTED] K2 : West Kowloon Station Bus Terminus [REDACTED] K4 : Sky Corridor [REDACTED] M : Elements [REDACTED] N : [REDACTED] Austin station [REDACTED] West Kowloon station features an extensive green garden across
2196-546: The implementation of the "co-location arrangement" at the West Kowloon station. 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. 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
2257-493: The inverse is equally true as well. In digital media, many cultural phenomena imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan into mainland China, such as music videos, karaoke videos, subtitled movies, and subtitled dramas, use traditional Chinese characters. In Hong Kong and Macau , traditional characters were retained during the colonial period, while the mainland adopted simplified characters. Simplified characters are contemporaneously used to accommodate immigrants and tourists, often from
2318-725: The mainland. The increasing use of simplified characters has led to concern among residents regarding protecting what they see as their local heritage. Taiwan has never adopted simplified characters. The use of simplified characters in government documents and educational settings is discouraged by the government of Taiwan. Nevertheless, with sufficient context simplified characters are likely to be successfully read by those used to traditional characters, especially given some previous exposure. Many simplified characters were previously variants that had long been in some use, with systematic stroke simplifications used in folk handwriting since antiquity. Traditional characters were recognized as
2379-682: The majority of Chinese text in mainland China are simplified characters , there is no legislation prohibiting the use of traditional Chinese characters, and often traditional Chinese characters remain in use for stylistic and commercial purposes, such as in shopfront displays and advertising. Traditional Chinese characters remain ubiquitous on buildings that predate the promulgation of the current simplification scheme, such as former government buildings, religious buildings, educational institutions, and historical monuments. Traditional Chinese characters continue to be used for ceremonial, cultural, scholarly/academic research, and artistic/decorative purposes. In
2440-975: The merging of previously distinct character forms. Many Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between these character sets. Traditional characters are known by different names throughout the Chinese-speaking world. The government of Taiwan officially refers to traditional Chinese characters as 正體字 ; 正体字 ; zhèngtǐzì ; 'orthodox characters'. This term is also used outside Taiwan to distinguish standard characters, including both simplified, and traditional, from other variants and idiomatic characters . Users of traditional characters elsewhere, as well as those using simplified characters, call traditional characters 繁體字 ; 繁体字 ; fántǐzì ; 'complex characters', 老字 ; lǎozì ; 'old characters', or 全體字 ; 全体字 ; quántǐzì ; 'full characters' to distinguish them from simplified characters. Some argue that since traditional characters are often
2501-512: The new development area of West Kowloon Cultural District and West Kowloon station after completion. Transportation Study identified the following specific road improvement measures: Construction of the West Kowloon station project was divided into two parts, XRL810A (northern part) and XRL810B (southern part) (XRL meaning e X press R ail L ink). The northern construction area was awarded to Leighton Contractors & Gammon Construction responsible for joint operations. The southern part of
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2562-410: The nose cone, FRP was used because of its ability to be molded into complex aerodynamic shapes necessary sustained at the front of the train in high-speed operations and continue to maintain its structural strength. However, the use of these two materials with different coefficients of linear thermal expansion meant the different rates of expansion could lead to paint peeling off the body. This problem
2623-665: The official script in Singapore until 1969, when the government officially adopted Simplified characters. Traditional characters still are widely used in contexts such as in baby and corporation names, advertisements, decorations, official documents and in newspapers. The Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative in Southeast Asia regarding simplification. Although major public universities teach in simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications such as
2684-700: The original standard forms, they should not be called 'complex'. Conversely, there is a common objection to the description of traditional characters as 'standard', due to them not being used by a large population of Chinese speakers. Additionally, as the process of Chinese character creation often made many characters more elaborate over time, there is sometimes a hesitation to characterize them as 'traditional'. Some people refer to traditional characters as 'proper characters' ( 正字 ; zhèngzì or 正寫 ; zhèngxiě ) and to simplified characters as 簡筆字 ; 简笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'simplified-stroke characters' or 減筆字 ; 减笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'reduced-stroke characters', as
2745-561: The project was awarded to a consortium of Laing O'Rourke, HCCG (Hsin Chong) & Paul Y jointly responsible for the construction. As a cross-border station, the West Kowloon station has customs and immigration facilities for passengers to go through prior to boarding, removing the need for trains to stop at the Hong Kong - Mainland China border, reducing travel time. The station serves both 16-car long-haul trains and shorter 8-car short-haul regional trains . In its current initial stages,
2806-410: The public, although it was used on 30 June and 1 July 2022 to facilitate Chinese leader Xi Jinping and first lady Peng Liyuan 's visit to Hong Kong for ceremonies related to 25th anniversary of the Hong Kong handover and inauguration of John Lee as the new Chief Executive . The station reopened on 15 January 2023. The Mainland Port Area is an area inside West Kowloon station that serves as
2867-463: 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
2928-477: The sides of the end cars. All Vibrant Express trains are part of the CRH380A family. Carriage Number (including 2 wheelchairs) As of August 2022 Traditional Chinese characters Traditional Chinese characters are a standard set of Chinese character forms used to write Chinese languages . In Taiwan , the set of traditional characters is regulated by the Ministry of Education and standardized in
2989-445: 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
3050-421: 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. The long-haul trains use longer platforms located on
3111-627: The traditional character set used in Taiwan ( TC ) and the set used in Hong Kong ( HK ). Most Chinese-language webpages now use Unicode for their text. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommends the use of the language tag zh-Hant to specify webpage content written with traditional characters. In the Japanese writing system , kyujitai are traditional forms, which were simplified to create shinjitai for standardized Japanese use following World War II. Kyūjitai are mostly congruent with
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#17328546339213172-970: The traditional characters in Chinese, save for minor stylistic variation. Characters that are not included in the jōyō kanji list are generally recommended to be printed in their traditional forms, with a few exceptions. Additionally, there are kokuji , which are kanji wholly created in Japan, rather than originally being borrowed from China. In the Korean writing system , hanja —replaced almost entirely by hangul in South Korea and totally replaced in North Korea —are mostly identical with their traditional counterparts, save minor stylistic variations. As with Japanese, there are autochthonous hanja, known as gukja . Traditional Chinese characters are also used by non-Chinese ethnic groups. The Maniq people living in Thailand and Malaysia use Chinese characters to write
3233-509: The ubiquitous Unicode standard gives equal weight to simplified and traditional Chinese characters, and has become by far the most popular encoding for Chinese-language text. There are various input method editors (IMEs) available for the input of Chinese characters . Many characters, often dialectical variants, are encoded in Unicode but cannot be inputted using certain IMEs, with one example being
3294-707: The underground level of the West Kowloon Cultural District. The station closed between 30 January 2020 and 15 January 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Limited services resumed on 15 January 2023, with full services resumed on 1 April 2023. 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. Short-haul trains are operated by both
3355-434: The window) and the back of every aisle seat. In general. first class tickets are 50-60% more expensive than second class tickets. The numbering and classification system of Vibrant Express train cars is based on the one used for CRH380A trains operated by China Railway. Power Designation Coach Types Set numbers Set numbers are composed of the rolling stock type followed by the fleet number. They are displayed on
3416-571: The words for simplified and reduced are homophonous in Standard Chinese , both pronounced as jiǎn . The modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han dynasty c. 200 BCE , with the sets of forms and norms more or less stable since the Southern and Northern dynasties period c. the 5th century . Although
3477-517: Was addressed by using two separate gasket rings on the nose cone to separate it into different sections which are painted independently. They can be distinguished from CRH380A trains operated by China Railway which only have 1 gasket ring. The Vibrant Express uses the same naming convention for travel classes as those used by G-series (High Speed) trains, the fastest train services operated by China Railway. The trains have two classes of seats, second/standard class and first class. However, unlike
3538-580: Was any attempt to cover up the event, despite the ceremony being closed to press and being held without advance notice to news media or to members of the Legislative Council . 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 and 18 April 2018. He refused the applications for interim relief by his decision dated 14 August 2018. He granted
3599-634: Was constructed by the MTR Corporation Limited as the project manager commissioned by the Hong Kong Government , through subcontractors. The station terminal is located in Jordan , Kowloon Peninsula , north of the West Kowloon Cultural District between the Airport Express and Tung Chung line 's Kowloon station and the Tuen Ma line 's Austin station . The footprint of the new station extends into
3660-499: Was delayed until 2015 following the shake-up of high-speed rail construction across China after the 2011 Wenzhou train collision . While construction of the station was still planned for completion in 2015, major flooding occurred in the railway tunnels under construction on 30 March 2014. This resulted in great damage to the tunnel boring machines . Internal MTR reports suggested causes were incomplete tender drawings, site surveys, and planning before construction began. The station
3721-472: Was formally opened on 4 September 2018 and high-speed trains started to run to destinations in mainland China from 23 September 2018. RTHK reported that the final cost of the construction was 30% more than the initial estimate. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , then chief executive of the territory Carrie Lam announced that West Kowloon station will be closed from midnight of 30 January 2020 until further notice. The station has since then remained closed to
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