China resumed on Sunday highspeed rail services between Hong Kong and the mainland for the first time since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, as it dismantles travel curbs after Beijing scrapped quarantine for arrivals a week earlier.

The re-opening comes amidst a massive wave of infections nationwide. Despite the infections, some passengers voiced excitement and relief about being able to more easily return to their hometowns in time for the approaching Lunar New Year.

“The resumption of the high-speed railway has made it very convenient for us and has brought us closer to home,” said Mang Lee, 33, who was among dozens going through border checks at Hong Kong’s West Kowloon station before boarding trains.

“For the past three years, due to the pandemic, it has not been easy to enter China in any way,” added Mang, originally from the southern city of Guangzhou. “I have not been able to go home for a long time.”

Operations at West Kowloon station in the global financial hub have been smooth, with a flow of about 1,400 passengers by 10am, said Cheung Chi-keung, head of operator MTR Corp’s cross-boundary operations. Tickets for nearly all trains were sold out on Sunday, a display at the station showed, a Reuters witness said.

The re-opening will initially be just for short journeys, MTR chairman Rex Auyeung told reporters at the station, but it was not immediately clear when long-haul journeys would resume.