Caption:
Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng (second from right) and Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário (left) have unveiled the inaugural plate of the Light Rapid Transit (LRT) Seac Pai Van Line at its Union Hospital Station this morning. The 1.6-kilometre-long Seac Pai Van Line, which started its service this early afternoon, connects the Macao Union Hospital in the southern section of the Macau Special Administrative Region’s (MSAR) Cotai district and Coloane Island’s sprawling Seac Pai Van public housing neighbourhood. The line consists of two stations – one next to the public-private Macao Union Hospital complex and the other one near the Seac Pai Van public housing estate, officially known as Union Hospital Station and Seac Pai Van Station respectively. The line’s first – crowded – train departed from Seac Pai Van Station on time at 1:11 p.m. today as scheduled. Today’s operational start of the Seac Pai Van Line enables LRT passengers to transfer between different lines for the first time, between the Taipa Line and the Seac Pai Van Line, at Union Hospital Station which serves as the cross-platform interchange between the two lines. The Taipa Line, which also serves the Cotai entertainment precinct that some two decades ago was still a swamp, extended to the peninsula’s Barra Station at its south-western tip in December last year. From now the light rail system has a total of 14 stations, with a total length of 14.1 kilometres.
The new line’s first departing train was packed with LRT enthusiasts.
A ride on the Seac Pai Van Line takes about two minutes, at a frequency of about six minutes. It service hours run from 6:30 a.m. to 11:15 p.m. from Monday through Thursday and from 6:30 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. from Friday through Sunday. A single journey ticket costs 6 patacas, 3 patacas for electronic prepaid card users. Concessionary cards are available for students, seniors and the disabled. - Photos: Tony Wong
