The Light Rapid Transit (LRT) Hengqin Line will come into operation today, with its first train departing at 1:11 p.m., connecting the Cotai entertainment precinct and the Macau-side zone of the Hengqin joint checkpoint.
Macau Light Rapid Transit Corporation Limited (MLM) made the announcement in a statement on Saturday.
The 2.2-kilometre-long LRT Cotai-Hengqin section includes a 900-metre-long underwater tunnel.
The LRT Cotai-Hengqin section project got off the ground in March 2021. Its construction, which had a price tag of 3.46 billion patacas, was fully completed on the last day of September, when the Public Works Bureau (DSOP), the public entity tasked with organising and overseeing public construction projects, transferred the line to Macau Light Rapid Transit Corporation Limited (MLM), the government-owned LRT operator, which then started the section’s internal trial operations.
The Cotai-side station of the two-station LRT Hengqin Line is connected to the adjacent Lotus Station on the current Taipa Line through an indoor corridor, enabling passengers to transfer between the Taipa Line and the Hengqin Line.
The Hengqin Line gradually descends from the elevated segment in Cotai and crosses the Cotai-Hengqin waterway via an underwater tunnel before arriving at the underground station at the Macau-side checkpoint zone of the Hengqin joint checkpoint, right next to the pedestrian immigration building.
The Hengqin-side station of the line is officially known as Hengqin Station.
With the Hengqin Line to open this afternoon, the statement noted that after leaving the underground Hengqin Station via lifts or escalators, LRT passengers can then “easily” walk to the checkpoint building’s departure hall.
After today’s opening of the Hengqin Line, its Cotai-side station will be part of the Taipa Line’s Lotus Station as they are connected through an indoor corridor, meaning that Lotus Station will also be a station of the Hengqin Line, serving as a cross-platform interchange between the two lines.
According to Saturday’s statement, the first train will depart from the Hengqin Line’s Lotus Station at 1:11 p.m. today.
A one-way ride on the Hengqin Line will take about two minutes, at a frequency of about six minutes, the statement said.
The LRT operator will hold an inauguration ceremony for the Hengqin Line this morning.
