MTR chief guides rail firm on global track

Chow Chung-kong's ambition to create a world player comes into focus as talks on KCRC merger appear to have stalled

WHEN CHOW Chung-kong left his native shores to pursue an international managerial career, Hong Kong's urban rail operator was but a twinkle in the eye of local planners. Funds were tight in the mid-1970s and it was hard to imagine that from such modest network beginnings a global best-practice operator would emerge.

In December 2003, Mr Chow returned to Hong Kong to run a company that had put in the miles but faced middle-aged dilemmas. MTR Corp ran one of the world's slickest city metro services, its property projects had sculpted the urban environment, station services were unrivalled and it was unique in not costing taxpayers a cent in direct taxation. The question was: where did a smart but merely medium-sized operator go next?

It was quickly apparent that the internationally experienced executive had ambitions far beyond home base. The MTR may have built a chunky overseas consultancy arm under its last boss, but it was Mr Chow who pushed an aggressive foreign expansion committing the firm's balance sheet.

In southern England, the firm is pushing an 'asset-light' expansion while big bucks are being committed across the border, including to a six billion yuan subway line in Shenzhen and an even bigger metro project in Beijing, presently up for tender.

You could almost be forgiven for forgetting that fundamental questions remain over the firm's future, given apparently stalled merger negotiations with Kowloon-Canton Railway Corp.

The merger is intended to cut fares, simplify transport planning and stop the competitive posturing over new routes such as the Sha Tin to Central rail link, which controversially went to the KCRC.