The MTR announced that it will provide overnight train services for Christmas and New Year’s Eve, as well as 2,700 additional trips to cover the end-of-year holiday season spanning Winter Solstice to New Year’s Day. During this period, trains will run at two-minute intervals on the Island Land and Tsuen Wan lines.
On Winter Solstice — which falls December 22, 2023 — MTR trains will run more frequently between 3pm and 5pm. From December 22-26 and 30-31, there will be additional train trips from 1pm-12.30am. These timings will also apply to trains running on January 1. However, there will be no extra trips on the Airport Express during this time.
On Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, all local trains will run between 12.30 and 6am, with trains plying every 15 minutes on all lines between 3.30am and 6am. However, this will not apply to journeys to or from Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau stations on the East Rail Line, Airport Express and Disneyland Resort Line.
Seven Light Rail routes — 505, 507, 610, 614P, 615P, 706 and 751 — will also operate throughout Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. MTR buses 506, K51, and K54 will extend their service hours on these days, running every 15-20 minutes between 11.15pm and 1.50am.
The MTR recently announced that Hong Kong residents and visitors to the city can make contactless payments for their MTR train trips using Visa bank cards, from December 23. They can also pay for their rides using smartphones and smartwatches linked to their Visa cards.
The rail corporation also said that it will give coupons worth HK$10 for domestic rides to passengers who take local trains five times by paying with Adult Octopus cards linked to the MTR mobile app. Mainland tourists can also buy half-priced Adult 1-Day Tourist Day Passes on the Alipay App from December 18, 2023-January 7, 2024.
Image credits: G-rom Flayosc via Flickr
