Hong Kong cuts Northern Link railway budget by 28% through mainland-referenced standards
A new railway line meant to be the transport backbone for an infrastructure megaproject strengthening Hong Kong’s ties with neighbouring mainland cities will cost about HK$86.2 billion – down more than a quarter from original estimates, the government has said.
The announcement accompanied the signing of an agreement between the government and the MTR Corporation on the Northern Link, a railway project connecting existing lines to the mainland Chinese border.
The slashed costs were attributed, in part, to the city’s adoption of the “Hong Kong Railway Standards,” a new set of standards taking reference from those used in mainland China, Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan said at the Tuesday ceremony.
The new standards were promulgated this February, “introducing the most suitable railway standards of the nation and various places in the world to facilitate the wider adoption of innovative technologies, materials, equipment and systems.”
Chan also pointed to “various streamlining proposals” under proposed legislation meant to cut the red tape around planning, land administration, and regulatory procedures in the Northern Metropolis, a development megaproject in the city’s north.
‘Backbone’ of Northern Metropolis
The metropolis project is meant to deepen the city’s integration with mainland China, transforming about 300 square kilometres — roughly a third of the city’s land — into an innovation and technology hub.
Chan said bundling the two components of the rail project — the Main Line and the Spur Line — would help reduce costs and advance the completion timetable.
The statement said that the capital cost of the entire project was estimated at about HK$86.2 billion in July 2025 prices, lower than the original estimate by 28 per cent.
“Through the above breakthroughs, coupled with the cost-saving benefits brought about by the shortened construction period, the overall construction cost of the whole Northern Link Project has been reduced by 28 per cent as compared with the original estimate,” a statement on Tuesday read.
The statement also said that the chief executive had granted eight plots of land tapped for development under the Northern Metropolis scheme to the MTR Corporation, including sites in Ngau Tam Mei, San Tin, Kwu Tung North, and a residential plot in Au Tau.
The railway operator, in which the government holds a majority stake, would develop the plots for residential and commercial use under the “rail-plus-property” model, which leverages income from property developments to support railway operations.
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James Lee is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press with an interest in culture and social issues. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in Journalism from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he witnessed the institution’s transformation over the course of the 2019 extradition bill protests and after the passing of the Beijing-imposed security law.
Since joining HKFP in 2023, he has covered local politics, the city’s housing crisis, as well as landmark court cases including the 47 democrats national security trial. He was previously a reporter at The Standard where he interviewed pro-establishment heavyweights and extensively covered the Covid-19 pandemic and Hong Kong’s political overhauls under the national security law.
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