MTR Corporation

MTR Corporation was established in 1975 with a mission to construct and operate an urban metro system for Hong Kong

In June 2000, it was re-established as MTR Corporation Limited and was listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in October 2000. In December 2007 the operations of the Government-owned rail operator, the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, were merged into MTR. The merged rail network comprises nine commuter railway lines, a light rail network and a high-speed airport express link with an average weekday ridership of more than 5.5 million passengers in Hong Kong.

Today, MTR has expanded into mainland China with the construction and operation of Beijing Metro Line 4 and Line 14, Shenzhen Metro Line 4 (Longhua Line) and Hangzhou Metro Line 1.

MTR also operates and manages the Melbourne Metro in Australia and in September 2014, the Northwest Rapid Transit Consortium, of which it is a shareholder, was awarded the Operations, Trains and Systems Public-Private Partnership (PPP) contract for the Sydney Metro Northwest project in Sydney.

In February 2015, Beijing MTR initialled the Concession Agreement for Beijing Metro Line 16. MTR also operates and manages Stockholm Metro, the MTR Express intercity service between Stockholm and Gothenburg and Stockholm Commuter Rail Systems in Sweden.

MTR offers worldwide railway consultancy and contracting services. Clients served include metro companies, government authorities and rail system suppliers in the Mainland of China, India, Australia, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. MTR Corporation is acknowledged as one of the world’s leading operators of metro, commuter and airport rail systems and has a successful international consulting business.

It is also an acknowledged world leader in Rail + Property development, and manages shopping malls, retail units, apartments and other major buildings along some of its lines.

MTR has operated in the UK for a number of years, running the London Overground network from 2007 until 2016. During its tenure London Overground had one of the highest right-time punctuality rates in the UK, and MTR’s extent of operations increased as the network was expanded. In 2015 the business was re-accredited by Investors in People (IiP) and was also awarded a five-star EFQM accreditation for excellence. MTR’s current footprint in the UK includes:

Elizabeth Line

MTR was awarded the TfL Rail Trains Operating Concession in July 2014, and is currently running TfL Rail services between Liverpool Street in London and Shenfield in Essex as well as services between Paddington and Heathrow.

London’s Crossrail concession will be known as the Elizabeth line when fully open.

South Western Railway

South Western Railway is a joint venture between FirstGroup and MTR Europe. With about 235 million passenger journeys a year, the South Western franchise covers urban, suburban, regional and long-distance routes between London Waterloo and southwest England, including Bristol, Exeter and Portsmouth.

South Western Railway has some of the busiest routes in the country, operating nearly 1,700 services each weekday.

First MTR South Western Trains was awarded the contract by the Department for Transport (DfT) in March 2017 and operations began in August 2017 for a seven-year period with the option for an eleven-month extension at the discretion of the DfT.