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MTR Corporation
OpinionComment
Bernard Chan
Bernard Chan

Opinion | In praise of Hong Kong’s MTR – still one of the best in the world

  • Recent mishaps loom large but our MTR remains world class in efficiency, self-financing and with art for public enjoyment offered in stations
  • We may not always appreciate it, but others around the world only have good things to say

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The Wan Chai MTR station, seen here on June 21, has been transformed into an art gallery of sorts as part of a collaboration with Hong Kong Ballet. Photo: Jonathan Wong
Bernard Chan

An average of 3.88 million passenger trips per weekday; 22 heavy and light rail lines; 98 MTR stations and 68 light rail stations; a total route length of 266.3km; 99.9 per cent on-time performance. These are the impressive numbers of Hong Kong’s MTR.

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Of course, the public only remembers the 0.1 per cent of the time when the MTR is delayed, such as when two train carriage doors fell off and landed on the tracks at the Causeway Bay station during the evening rush hour on December 2.
Or when three carriages of an East Rail line train derailed near Hung Hom station on September 17, 2019, which resulted in a suspension of services between the Mong Kok East and Hung Hom stations for almost 24 hours.

It is indeed a tremendous inconvenience to commuters when accidents or delays happen on the MTR, as so many people rely on it to get to and from work or school. Also, when something goes wrong with the MTR, the areas surrounding the affected station become gridlocked.

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Train carriage loses doors at Hong Kong MTR line, forcing partial suspension of rail service

Train carriage loses doors at Hong Kong MTR line, forcing partial suspension of rail service

But how does the MTR compare with its international counterparts? The Community of Metros (CoMET) collects and assesses data for 19 metro systems from 18 cities around the world, including London, New York, Berlin, Beijing, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, Paris and Hong Kong.

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