'Talks underway to improve cross-border arrangements'
A senior Transport Department official on Tuesday admitted that the authorities underestimated how many people would need to return to the mainland after the New Year's Eve fireworks celebration.  Many visitors found themselves stranded in the early hours of Monday, with hundreds lining up for cross-border buses or spending the early hours at Sheung Shui MTR Station. Principal Transport Officer Ken Wong told an RTHK programme that the government will talk to mainland authorities to improve the cross-border arrangement.  "The Hong Kong government will keep discussing border crossing arrangements with the mainland authorities,” Wong said. “We will carefully examine this incident. We will also discuss with the departments responsible for border control points to explore the possibility of making it more convenient for coaches to cross the border."  Speaking on the same radio programme, Hong Kong's sole delegate to the nation's top legislative body, Starry Lee, said Monday's chaotic scenes underline the need to keep border checkpoints open 24 hours a day.  "Now is the right time to extend the operating hours of cross-border checkpoints, especially those at railways, during holidays... and to gradually implement a 24-hour border-crossing arrangement. We have already met and presented these suggestions to the security chief, and he is actively considering them."  Lee added that she had also made the suggestion to customs officials in Beijing, when she met them in November last year.