LRT Taipa line introduced to the media today

As the new Light Rail Train (LRT) public company will soon be established, the LRT Taipa route is still expected to start operations before the Macau SAR 20th handover anniversary this year on December 20, the Transport Infrastructure Office (GIT) Director, Ho Cheong Kei, said today.

The GIT invited the media to visit and go for a ride in the future Taipa LRT today.

“We will try our best to fulfill this greatest goal of [LRT operations] as the public have great expectations,” Mr. Ho said.

With a total of 11 stations, the LRT will operate between Taipei Ferry Terminal, Airport, MUST, Cotai East, East Asia Games, Lotus checkpoint, Cotai West, Pai Kok, Stadium, Jockey Club and Ocean.

The basic unit of LRT comprises of two sets of coaches, with a maximum carrying capacity of some 100 people for each coach.

Two sets of coaches can be added depending on the passenger flows, indicating that the maximum carrying capacity of each train could be around 400 people every time.

However, Mr. Ho said that it is hard to estimate the exact number of passengers that will use the LRT in the future.

The GIT will be dismissed after the establishment of the public LRT company with most of its functions to be transferred to this new company, which was once expected to be established in the middle of this year but has seen its start postponed until now.

Concerning the establishment progress of the LRT company, Mr.Ho said the GIT has been working on some legal and contract issues but promised it will soon be set up.

The LRT fare was also said to be announced soon.

The GIT also postponed the construction of Seac Pai Van route connecting the Taipa route in order to avoid excess works disruption during the transitional period, but with Mr. Ho pledging that the construction of the Seac Pai Van route will be soon restarted after the establishment of the LRT company.

Residents and tourists will be unable to use the MacauPass card during the initial stage of LRT operations due to technical issues, with Mr. Ho saying that the new company will try to solve this problem through commercial negotiations in the future.

The train will stop service if a Typhoon Signal No.8 is issued, but further coordination between public transportation system would be discussed with the government.

The LRT operations control center