The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link has handled 15.032 million cross-border passenger trips in the first half of the year, representing an increase of over two million passenger trips compared with the same period last year, marking a growth rate of 16.1 percent, according to the Shenzhen railway authorities.
Statistics show that in the first half of the year, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link operated over 37,000 passenger trains.
The number of passengers traveling from the Hong Kong West Kowloon Station to the mainland reached 7.362 million, an increase of 967,000 compared with the same period last year, representing a growth rate of 15.1 percent. Conversely, the number of passengers traveling from the mainland to the West Kowloon Station totaled 7.67 million, reflecting an increase of over 1.12 million, or 17.1 percent, over the same period last year.
As a key part of China's high-speed rail network, the whole line of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link is 141 kilometers long, including 115 kilometers on the mainland and 26 kilometers in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
It offers direct rail services between Hong Kong and 44 destinations on the mainland, including cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Shijiazhuang, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Changsha, Hangzhou, Nanchang, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Shantou, Guiyang, Guilin and Kunming.
From Hong Kong West Kowloon Station, it will take a minimum of 14 minutes to get to Futian Railway Station in Shenzhen, a minimum of 47 minutes to Guangzhou South Railway Station, and eight hours and 56 minutes to Beijing West Railway Station.
Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express railway handles over 15 mln passenger trips in H1
The Israeli government is set to prohibit 37 international aid organizations from operating in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank effective Jan 1, 2026, after authorities stated the groups failed to comply with stricter registration requirements, according to an Israeli media report on Tuesday.
The report from The Times of Israel cited the statement from Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, saying that the new regulations are based on security concerns aimed at removing non-government organizations' staff allegedly linked to so-called "terrorist organizations."
The report came after the Israeli government announced the same day that it would suspend the activities of several international aid organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, in the Gaza Strip starting January 1, 2026, citing the organizations' failure to submit information on their Palestinian staff as required.
Last year, Israel rolled out new regulations on registration requiring international aid groups to provide detailed information of their staff's names, funding sources, and operation status.
On Wednesday, Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories stated that the registration mandates were necessary to prevent humanitarian supplies from being exploited by Hamas.
In an online interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) on Wednesday, Bushra Khalidi, policy lead at Oxfam, a global organization that fights inequality to end poverty and injustice, said the impact of the ban will be "devastating."
"It is devastating. We've seen the numbers from the IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) a few weeks ago. We saw them in the summer. There's been a slight improvement, but that's not good enough for the time of a ceasefire. And six months after the famine was declared, we should have seen much more improvement in Gaza," said Khalidi.
"It's winter here in Palestine. It was raining. It rained a record (amount) of rain per millimeter yesterday in Palestine since 1992. So, the impact is devastating. But the fact that shelter materials, for example, cannot enter. For families, this will mean slower repairs. It will mean fewer supplies. It will mean a longer wait for basic services. It will directly affect the access to clean water, to sanitation, to shelter materials, to public health interventions. Aid that should be moving predictably will remain delayed, it will remain restricted and it will remain stranded," she added.
She also emphasized that the operating environment became nearly impossible for organizations to navigate long before the new ban was announced.
"We have been obstructed and blocked from operating freely and unobstructedly for the last two years by Israel. Israel has killed a record number of humanitarian workers in the last two years. It has bombed our premises, it has bombed our convoys, it has blocked our items. It has driven famine like conditions in Gaza because of blocking humanitarian access. So, I think it's really important to set that scene, is that what is happening now is nothing new. It only continues within the kind of campaign that Israel has orchestrated to drive basically the population of Gazans' survival. So, we are, we have not been able to enter any materials in since March, in fact, us and many other organizations. And of course that has severely restricted our ability to scale up our operations," said Khalidi.
Hadja Lahbib, European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, said on Wednesday that Israel's move is no different from cutting off lifesaving supplies for the local population, adding that the European Union has made clear that all obstacles to humanitarian access must be lifted.
Israel bans operations of 37 int'l aid groups in Gaza Strip, West Bank
