Feature: Excited Hong Kong passengers ride on new high-speed sleeper train to mainland

HONG KONG, June 17 (Xinhua) -- On Saturday night, inside the dining car of high-speed sleeper train D910 from Hong Kong to Beijing, crew members were presenting passengers a spectacular performance of Peking Opera, which met with loud applause.

High-speed sleeper trains linking Beijing and Shanghai with Hong Kong commenced operations on Saturday. The new train service runs between Hong Kong's West Kowloon Station and Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station/Beijing West Railway Station every Friday to Monday.

Sung Jik Tung, a student from the University of Hong Kong, was one of the passengers on the first high-speed sleeper train to Beijing. He and 15 other Hong Kong students were going to Beijing to participate in artificial intelligence training for about a month.

Sung told Xinhua that he was very excited to be on the maiden trip made by the first high-speed sleeper train to Beijing to witness the moment.

The co-location arrangement at Hong Kong's West Kowloon Station enables passengers to travel between different destinations across the country with ease and convenience.

"It was convenient and it saved us a lot of time, and also we could walk less, which was very friendly to middle-aged and elderly people," Hong Kong passenger surnamed Ho said.

On the train D908 bound for Shanghai, a Hong Kong passenger, insisting on merely using his surname Wan, and his family was full of expectation for the trip.

Wan said riding on an overnight train will not affect the children to go to school and adults going to work on Monday. "When the children heard that they were going to spend the night on the train, they were very excited."

Gary Zhang Xinyu, chairman of the Legislative Council's Subcommittee on Matters Relating to Railways, was also on the train D908. He said that the overnight train service provides business people with extra traveling options, improves the efficiency of business exchanges between Shanghai and Hong Kong, and helps Hong Kong better integrate into the overall development of the country.

"The train today is nearly full, which is both gratifying and challenging for us. We hope to do provide quality service to our passengers," Ma Shuang, chief attendant on the D910 train bound for Beijing West Railway Station, said.

The new train service has also added several stations along the route, including Shijiazhuang, Changsha South, Guangzhou, Shenzhen north and Hangzhou East.

On Sunday morning, passengers got off the high-speed sleeper train D909 bound for Hong Kong's West Kowloon Station and went straight to visit M+ Museum and the Hong Kong Palace Museum in the West Kowloon Cultural District.

Becky Ip, deputy executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, said that the cultural atmosphere in West Kowloon allowed visitors to experience a different Hong Kong and unique charm of the city's arts and culture.