Macau's less than two-year-old Light Rapid Transit (LRT) system will be suspended for 180 days from next Wednesday, Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosario announced at a press conference today.
According to the press conference, the half-year-long suspension is due to electrical issues on the line caused by overheating high-voltage cables supplied by Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which will undertake the replacement works free of charge.
The LRT line, which currently only covers Taipa and Cotai, is run by Hong Kong's MTR Railway Operations (Macau) Company.
Most of Macau's large-scale hotel-casino resorts are located in Cotai. There are plans to extend the line to Coloane, the southern tip of the Macau peninsula, the city's Barrier Gate checkpoint and its checkpoint on Zhuhai's Hengqin island.
The line has suffered a host of technical and operational issues since it opened in December 2019. Due to declining visitor numbers caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, its number of passengers had fallen drastically.
The system is owned by the local government but its operation has been outsourced to MTR.
