Shanghai–Kowloon through train

Shanghai–Kowloon through train
滬九直通車
Shanghai–Kowloon through train; 滬九直通車
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Locale	Shanghai; Hong Kong SAR;
First service	19 May 1997; 27 years ago
Current operator(s)	CR Shanghai
Route
Termini	Shanghai; Guangzhou East; Hung Hom
Technical
Track owner(s)	China Railway (China section); KCRC (Hong Kong section);

The Shanghai–Kowloon through train was a train that ran between Hong Kong and Shanghai railway station in China, jointly operated by the MTR Corporation Limited of Hong Kong and China's national rail service (Shanghai Railway Bureau). The numbers of this train service were Z99B (away from Shanghai) and Z100B (towards Shanghai). Services operated along the East Rail line in Hong Kong, crossing the boundary between Hong Kong and Mainland China at Lo Wu/Luohu and then continuing along China's railway network via the Guangshen railway, Jingguang railway and the Hukun railway to Shanghai. The train ran every other day. The journey time was approximately 20 hours.

The stops on the route were Guangzhou East, and Jinhua stations. Only passengers taking Z99A/Z100A (Shanghai-Guangzhou East) could disembark at these stops.

After 1 October 2003, passengers taking Z99B could not disembark at the stops listed above, as all travellers to Hong Kong from Shanghai clear Chinese immigration and customs at Shanghai station, and once they had done so they were considered to have left Mainland China and were no longer permitted to leave the train until their arrival at Hung Hom station. The same rule also applied to northbound travellers (Z100B) who would clear Chinese immigration once they had arrived at Shanghai station.^[1] 144-hour visa-free transit for passengers who were of selected nationalities were available since 30 January 2016.^[2]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, services to Hong Kong have been suspended indefinitely since 30 January 2020. There has been no plan to resume its service, even after the end of the pandemic. After the resumption of train services was suspended due to COVID-19, this series of train services only retain the itinerary within mainland China (Shanghai-Guangzhou) and no longer operate the itinerary to Hong Kong.

On 4 June 2024, China Railway announced that the train services from Shanghai and Beijing to Hung Hom would be replaced by high-speed sleeper trains to West Kowloon station.^[3] Shanghai railway station port is closed officially on 5 July 2024.^[4]

Train carriages

Shanghai–Kowloon through train used 25T class train carriages. The train had 18 carriages in total. But only 11 carriages went to Hong Kong because the other 7 carriages served Z99A/Z100A, they were decoupled (for Z99B to go to Hong Kong) at the Guangzhou East railway station.

Carriage number	1	2	3－6	7－9	10	11	12-14	15-17	18
Type of carriages	XL25T Baggage car (Chinese: 行李车)	YW25T Hard sleeper (Chinese: 硬卧车)	YW25T Hard Sleeper	RW25T Soft sleeper (Chinese: 软卧车)	RW19T Luxury Soft Sleeper (Chinese: 高级包厢软卧车)	CA25T Dining car (Chinese: 餐车)	YW25T Hard Sleeper	YZ25T Hard seat (Chinese: 硬座车)	YW25T Hard Sleeper
Notes	Carriages No.1-11 go to Hong Kong (Z99B/Z100B)						Carriages No.12-18 only serve passengers taking Z99A/Z100A