Kowloon Station — Local services in Hong Kong

If you need to board a train to get into mainland China allow 2 hours not the 45 minutes that is recommended. We arrived with 1 hour and still missed the train as there’s so many check points and queues at each one. You have to go through baggage security checks twice, fill a declaration form, show your passport 3 times and go through checkpoints 3-4 times so overall you have 6-7 stops and 8 if you include the passport check before getting into the train.

It’s more checks than a domestic or international flight with similar lines and slower checks, even 2 hours might not be enough with peak traffic as it would have taken us 1.5 hours in the morning if we didn’t run and cut the queues as we allowed 1 hour and it wasn’t enough.

If you miss the train you have to buy another ticket and if there’s no other available tickets for the morning you might have to book in the afternoon or next day.

We arrived 3 minutes before departure at the gates but we weren’t let on as they close the gates 5 minutes early. So if your train is at 10:30 the gates will close 10:25. Allow 2-3 hours to be safe as there’s many people buying new tickets because they missed their train. I should have taken a photo of the queue.

TLDR - allow 2-3 hours not 45minutes as it took us 1.5 hours to get through everything and we ended up having to buy...

Kowloon Station MTR - A Major Transit Hub with a Few Hiccups

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Kowloon Station is a massive transportation hub, connecting the MTR network to the Airport Express and various bus services. While it's a convenient location for transfers, the signage can be confusing, especially for those unfamiliar with the station layout.

The station itself is impressive, with a large, open space and numerous escalators and walkways. However, navigating through the different levels and platforms can be a bit overwhelming.

If you're transferring to a taxi or bus, be prepared for a bit of a walk. The signage for the taxi stand and bus terminal could be more prominent.

Overall, Kowloon Station is a necessary transportation hub, but it could benefit from clearer signage and...

"USE THE LIFT" Unfortunately an epic sick joke - station minders are stationed at escalators to BLOCK passengers with trolley bags from using the escalators "dangerous, please use lift".... but the lifts are crowded, especially between the airport express and hsr. So bottlenecks form...... and lifts lead to poorly marked WRONG atriums...... the signages to pick up points etc can't be found.

Its really frustrating!

Everywhere else in the world people trolley on escalators regularly..... with bags..... I personally do this at the 8 airports i go to this year - BUT in HK we are assumed to be kids inside the AE stations - BANNED FROM...