Guests attend a ceremony to mark the resumption of operation of the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link at the Hong Kong West Kowloon Station in south China's Hong Kong, Jan. 15, 2023.

After nearly three years of service suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link resumed operation Sunday, with an average of 38.5 pairs of high-speed trains on a daily basis running from stations in Guangzhou and Shenzhen to the Hong Kong West Kowloon Station at the initial stage. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

HONG KONG/GUANGZHOU, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- It was a little past dawn Sunday when the Hong Kong West Kowloon Station welcomed its first batch of travelers, who couldn't hide their excitement behind the masks as they were about to catch the very first high-speed train in nearly three years to the Chinese mainland.

"My son can't wait to get a taste of the special dishes of our hometown," said a traveler surnamed Fu, who hasn't been back to northeastern China for two years. Soon she and her son would get onboard the first train in the morning to Shenzhen, where she would then transfer to her hometown for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year holiday.

After nearly three years of service suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link resumed operation Sunday, with an average of 38.5 pairs of high-speed trains on a daily basis running from stations in Guangzhou and Shenzhen to the Hong Kong West Kowloon Station at the initial stage.

Liao Jun, a student from Jiangxi Province who studies in Hong Kong, was excited to catch the first train back to the mainland.

"Today will be a day to remember. The resumption of high-speed rail services is of great significance to the overall connectivity between the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the mainland," he said.

The first train left for Shenzhen at 7:03 a.m. local time. In only 18 minutes, the train arrived at Shenzhenbei station, where a southbound high-speed train was ready to take passengers to Hong Kong.

The windows of the train were decorated with Chinese paper-cuts that read "happy new year" and wishes for the upcoming Year of the Rabbit, which falls on Jan. 22.

At the Hong Kong West Kowloon Station, inbound passengers were greeted with gift bags that read "Hello, Hong Kong." The arrival hall was decorated with potted flowers that signal good fortune for a new year.

"I printed out the ticket today as a souvenir," said a businessman surnamed Bu, who just took the train from Shenzhen to Hong Kong to visit his clients.

"It would be of great help to be able to talk to my clients face to face," he said.

By 10:00 a.m. Sunday morning, nine northbound bullet trains and seven southbound bullet trains had taken around 1,400 passengers to their destinations. Tickets were sold out for most of the trains.