The Light Rapid Transit (LRT) Hengqin Line started its service early yesterday afternoon after it was inaugurated by Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng in the morning.
Ho and Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário unveiled the inaugural plate of the LRT Hengqin Line at its Lotus Station at 11 a.m. yesterday.
The LRT Hengqin Line connects the Cotai entertainment precinct and the Macau-side zone of the Hengqin joint checkpoint.
The 2.2-kilometre-long LRT Cotai-Hengqin section includes a 900-metre-long underwater tunnel.
The line’s first – crowded – train departed from Lotus Station on time at 1:11 p.m. yesterday as scheduled.
The Post also took the first departing train and noted that a one-way ride on the line takes less than two minutes.
The new line’s first departing train was packed with LRT enthusiasts.
Delivering a speech during yesterday’s inauguration ceremony, Ho Cheong Kei, who heads Macau Light Rapid Transit Corporation Limited (MLM), the government-owned LRT operator, said that the Hengqin Line’s opening now enables the connection of rail services between Macau and the mainland, strengthening Macau’s integration into the “one-hour living circle” of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA).
The mainland side of the Hengqin joint checkpoint is served by Zhuhai City’s railway network.
Ho Cheong Kei also said that the Hengqin Line provides residents and visitors with a convenient and quick option to travel to the Hengqin checkpoint, also enabling Macau’s LRT system to play a greater role in improving the city’s public transport.
Ho Cheong Kei pledged that the LRT operator will always ensure the Hengqin Line’s smooth operation and constantly improve its service quality.
According to the MLM website, a one-way ride on the Hengqin Line takes about two minutes, at a frequency of about six minutes.
The same as the Taipa Line and the Seac Pai Van Line, LRT trains on the Hengqin Line operate between 6:30 a.m. and 11:15 p.m. from Mondays to Thursdays, and between 6:30 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
The Cotai-side station of the two-station LRT Hengqin Line is connected to the adjacent Lotus Station on the Taipa Line through an indoor corridor. After yesterday’s opening of the Hengqin Line, Lotus Station is now a station of both the Taipa Line and the Hengqin Line, serving as a cross-platform interchange between the two lines, enabling passengers to transfer between the two lines.
The Hengqin checkpoint is a Macau-mainland joint checkpoint, where the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) exercises jurisdiction over a part of the checkpoint on Zhuhai’s Hengqin island, i.e., the Macau-side checkpoint zone of the Hengqin joint checkpoint.
The MSAR also exercises jurisdiction over the Macau-side checkpoint zone’s adjoining areas such as the Lotus Flower Bridge across the Cotai-Hengqin waterway as well as the new LRT Cotai-Hengqin section.
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.
The LRT Hengqin Line 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 this year.
Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng (second from right) and Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário (second from left) unveil the inaugural plate of the Light Rapid Transit (LRT) Hengqin Line at its Lotus Station yesterday morning, flanked by Ho Cheong Kei (first from right), who heads the LRT system’s operator, and Public Works Bureau (DSOP) Director Lam Wai Hou. – Photo: Tony Wong
The first passenger gestures after passing a ticket gate at the LRT Hengqin Line’s Lotus Station, shortly before the line’s first train departed at 1:11 p.m. yesterday as scheduled. – Photo: Tony Wong
Passengers catch a train at the LRT Hengqin Station yesterday. – Photo:Tony Wong
