A new border checkpoint between Shenzhen and Hong Kong will be built in the early half of next year at the Huanggang Metro Station, which is expected to largely relieve the passenger queues at the Luohu Checkpoint.

The Huanggang crossing, which will serve as a link between the Kowloon-Guangzhou Railway and Shenzhen Metro Line 4, is expected to cut the travel time from downtown Hong Kong to Shenzhen by half to 16 minutes when the Metro Line 4 is put into use in 2008. The 7.4-kilometer Lok Ma Chau section of the Kowloon-Guangzhou Railway, costing HK$10 billion (US$1.2 billion), will be put into use in 2007.

The new project, consisting of a checkpoint building and a Huanggang-Lok Ma Chau footbridge, will allow 250,000 people to cross the border daily, or about 20,000 people per hour each way. The footbridge will link the Huangguang checkpoint building with the Lok Ma Chau control station on the Hong Kong side.

Meanwhile, Shenzhen and Hong Kong authorities are planning a checkpoint at Liantang in the east of Shenzhen, and another at Longhua Railway Station in the north for passengers from other inland cities.

(Shenzhen Daily December 5, 2005)