Hong Kong’s MTR Co. receives £1.4 billion Crossrail project Transport and Related Services

Transport for London (TfL) has announced that Hong-Kong-based MTR Corporation has been awarded a £1.4 billion contract to run the new Crossrail service through London from 2018.

MTR Corporation was one among the four companies short-listed to bid for the contract late last year, beating the likes of National Express, Arriva and the French transport firm Keolis, through the Go-Ahead Group.

The franchise will run for an initial eight years with an option to extend to a decade after that. Around 1,100 staff with up to 850 new roles is likely to be employed by MTR. This will include about 400 drivers and more than 50 apprenticeships for people from the communities on the cross-London route.

A £14.5 billion Crossrail project, will spot trains running from as far west of the capital as Reading in Berkshire and as far east as Shenfield in Essex, with increased connections to south London.

Due to completely operational by the end of 2019, the extensive undertaking will switch a number of overcrowded central London Tube stations and exceptionally improve cross-London journey times.

The Crossrail project is also expected to support almost 55,000 full-time jobs around the U.K, while its construction will develop at least 75,000 business opportunities throughout the nation with 97 per cent of companies in Crossrail’s supply chain based in the UK.

According to the London mayor, Boris Johnson - The recent award of the franchise lays out the final pieces of the jigsaw puzzle to be put back in place. We are very much excited to announce the new operator of this significant railway, making it one step nearer to welcoming passengers aboard. The new Crossrail will remodel east-west passage in the capital, transforming London into an even more attractive destination to visit and invest.

The London Overground franchise is already being operated by MTR with Arriva UK Trains, as well as running the metro system in Hong Kong.