MTR Corporation will lease the rights to conduct operations on this line, until 1 December 2057. With the completion of the section, the journey time through the Rail Link have been reduced to 14 minutes between WKT and Futian stations, 23 minutes between Hong Kong and Shenzhen North and 48 minutes between Hong Kong and Guangzhou South. As of 2015, the cost of the project has risen substantially to HK$85.3 billion. Construction This commenced on 30 December 2004, in line with the overall commencement of the Wuhan-Guangzhou passenger line, building the new Guangzhou South station. In September 2005, the National Development and Reform Commission officially approved the “Shenzhen-Hong Kong railway passenger line from Guangzhou to Shenzhen section Feasibility Study”. On 18 December 2005, Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link's Guangzhou–Shenzhen section began formal construction. In January 2010, construction commenced on the Hong Kong section. In March 2011, Completion of the 10.8-km-long Shiziyang Tunnel to allow the railway to cross the Shiziyang Channel () of the Pearl River between the Dongchong and Humen Stations. On 26 December 2011, the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Guangzhou–Shenzhen section opened to Shenzhen North. On 30 March 2014, Severe storm hits Hong Kong, flooding the tunnels and damaged the Tunnel Boring Machines. This has caused a 3-month delay to construction. On 31 December 2014, The tunnel linking Shenzhen North station and Futian station was reported completed. The construction of the tunnel, which runs about 10 kilometers, took about six years. On 30 December 2015, Futian station commences intercity train operations. Operations At present, Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail operates around 104 northbound trains and 101 southbound trains a day, three pairs of separate lines on weekends, a separate peak line 20 pairs and 7 high-speed sleeper train pairs, including: Guangzhou South ↔ Chaoshan - 8 pairs, a separate peak line 2 pairs Guangzhou South ↔ Shanghai Hongqiao - 3 high-speed sleeper train pairs Guangzhou South → Shenzhen North - 17 trains, 3 weekend trains and a separate peak line 2 trains; Shenzhen North→Guangzhou South - 20 trains, 3 weekend trains and a separate peak line 2 trains Guangzhou South ↔ Futian - 23 pairs, a separate peak line 4 pairs Shenzhen North ↔ Guilin North - 3 pairs Shenzhen North ↔ Guiyang North - 1 pair Shenzhen North ↔ Nanning East - 3 pairs Shenzhen North ↔ Yongzhou - 1 pair Shenzhen North ↔ Changsha South - 12