The Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, continued his visit to London yesterday (September 23, London time).

     In the morning, Mr Chan visited Paddington Station to understand the operation of London's Elizabeth line, which is run by MTR Elizabeth line (MTREL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the MTR Corporation. The Elizabeth line spans a 128-kilometre route with 41 stations, with a weekly passenger patronage of 4 million. It commenced full operation in May 2022. 

     In recognition of its excellent performance in operating the Elizabeth line, MTREL was recently awarded the Passenger Operator of the Year 2023 in the United Kingdom (UK)'s National Rail Awards. Assessment for the award was based on customer service, punctuality, reliability, safety and maintaining good communication with passengers.

     Mr Chan said, "Hong Kong has rich experience and won recognition in designing, building and operating infrastructure projects. In recent years, our public organisations such as the MTR Corporation and the Airport Authority Hong Kong have been invited to share their management experience and practices in different countries, and operate important transport infrastructure projects there. This has fully displayed Hong Kong's soft power."

     At noon, Mr Chan had lunch with Chinese residents in the UK. He learned about their lives in the UK, and exchanged opinions on the economic and social situation in Hong Kong and the UK, as well as on the views expressed by the UK's political and business communities to Hong Kong. 

Ends/Sunday, September 24, 2023
Issued at HKT 9:00

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