MTR to provide services to Macau LRT for MOP6 billion

Tourists sit in a cable car operated by Ngong Ping 360, a subsidiary of MTR Corp

The local government has trusted the MTR Corporation Limited (MTR), Hong Kong’s subway system operator, to provide operation and maintenance assistance services to the Taipa Line of the Macau Light Rapid Transit (LRT) system for a period of 80 months, in order to cope with operations in 2019.

The scope of the services includes the testing and activation of systems prior to the start-up of the Taipa Line, the formation of operation teams and the development of pre-employment training. 

MTR will also be responsible for the day-to-day operations of train services within the first five years, and the repair and maintenance of trains, signaling systems and infrastructures. 

The price for the services as a whole is estimated at MOP5.88 billion. 

At the same time, the government is preparing to establish a wholly-owned company which will run the Macau LRT operations. The aforementioned responsibilities will be handed over to the government company for follow-up management.

Taking into account MTR’s extensive railway experience, it is expected that the company will conduct highly efficient operations on the Taipa Line, as well as provide residents and tourists with quality public transportation services. 

MTR CEO Lincoln Leung Kwok-Kuen expressed that he is happy to participate in the operation of Macau’s first railway project. 

In Leung’s opinion, MTR has many years of operational experience in Hong Kong and overseas railway projects. 

Leung is confident that MTR will provide quality services to Macau’s LRT passengers, and also that MTR will provide major contributions to the development of Macau’s railway network. 

The Macau LRT will run as trains of two or four cars, each car being able to carry about 100 passengers. If the train runs in groups of four cars, the total passenger capacity will be about 400 people. 

In the initial phase of LRT whole-length operation, the line will transport 7,800 people per hour and can be expected to reach 14,100 on an annual basis.

The Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo Rosário, said: “As next year we will start operating the LRT, we told the public we would set up a company. We awarded [chose] MTR, […] we can learn something [from MTR], after all, the LRT is a new thing to us.”

The government announced it will open the company by 2019 at the latest. Regarding the reasons why the government awarded MTR a five-year contract, Rosário said “we must have some time to learn something about the operations. […] We need some time to work with MTR.”

The government will pay approximately MOP100 million per month to MTR.

“I hope we all understand that despite LRT providing a 24-hour service, it does not mean it will be available 24 hours per day, because, at night, maintenance will be carried out. We have 11 stops and we have the depot,” said Rosário. JZ