Dr Raymond Ch’ien is the man driving the MTR. Appointed Non-Executive Chairman of the MTR Corporation in 2003, he has been a member of its board since 1998. Dr Ch'ien is also Chairman of the Hong Kong/European Union Business Cooperation Committee and a Hong Kong member of the APEC Business Advisory Council. In this week’s Six Questions, the former Hong Kong Executive Council member under the British administration, and later, the HKSAR Government, tells us where the MTR is headed.

Does Hong Kong still offer business opportunity for the MTR?
In the first 30 years of the MTR’s life, we built about 100 kilometres of network. As a result of our merger with the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corp (KCRC) in late 2007, we doubled our network size. Hong Kong is going to max out at about 270 kilometres of rail line. Hong Kong has limited land, and we are nearing saturation point. 

Still, our major focus for the next five to six years will definitely be Hong Kong, because four of the 10 major infrastructure projects outlined by the Chief Executive in his 2007-2008 Policy Address are rail-related. 

What is your growth strategy for the longer term?
We intend to go deep in a number of mainland municipalities; go native so to speak. We’re happy with where we are in Hong Kong, but we have to continue to grow, drawing on our familiarity with the mainland. The Chinese mainland market is exceedingly important to MTR’s future. We decided, some years ago, that we would commit capital to developments on the mainland as a first priority. We did so with the strategic view that southern Pearl River Delta will become a mega-metro area anchored by Hong Kong, and that we would like to be the primary mass transit rail service provider in the area. Similarly, but a bit less ambitiously, we aim to become an important player in Beijing, Hangzhou and Shenyang.

Shenzhen has a population of about 10 million now, and the Shenzhen rail network can grow to more than 300 kilometres. We are building Shenzhen Metro Line 4. Longer term – let’s say in 10 years – I will be really disappointed if I can’t take an MTR train from Ap Lei Chau, at the southern tip of Hong Kong Island, all the way to Lung Wah, at the northern edge of Shenzhen.

Beyond Guangdong, where does the MTR want to be?
We will soon open Beijing Metro Line 4. It cuts north and south on the western side of the city, serving the main university and high-tech zone in the northwest quadrant of Beijing. The southern catchment area of the line is designated as a new bio-tech hub. If they kept statistics on this, it might well show that commuters on Beijing Line 4 have the highest average education level in the nation.

We will also operate a line in Hangzhou, in a public-private-partnership with the Hangzhou Municipal Government and Hangzhou Metro Group Company. Hangzhou will soon become an important national rail hub, as many inter-province express lines will intersect there.

We also have an agreement with the Shenyang Municipal Government and the Shenyang Metro Group Company to operate Shenyang Metro Lines 1 and 2.

In general, our China focus is on municipal service. That alone will keep us busy enough for the next 20 years. We do not lightly venture beyond our area of competence, but our comfort zone is steadily expanding. We would also like to apply our property development know-how in mainland cities. So that’s another potential source of revenue down the road.   

You will soon begin rail operations in Melbourne and Stockholm. How did these opportunities become available to the MTR?
We were invited to bid. Our international reputation has, so far, preceded our actual operational reach, but we are beginning to catch up. 

London was our first major foray overseas. We took over London Overground in a joint partnership in November 2007. The mayor of London and, more importantly, London commuters, are quite pleased with our performance to date. London Overground serves the northern metro area, and will be one of the key people movers for the London Olympics in 2012. We missed the Beijing Olympics by a year, but we’ll be in service for the London Olympics, and I expect it will not be our last.

In London, we encountered early success. Thanks partly to that, Sweden and Melbourne followed. Equally important is our China know-how. Others wish to work with us in their home markets first and then enter China together with us.

Melbourne has a 370-kilometre network. We are in a partnership with two major Australian companies. Metro Trains Melbourne is scheduled to begin operations at the end of November, for an initial period of eight years.

An eight-year agreement to operate the Stockholm Metro also begins in November, so we will have a busy year-end. We are entering these new markets with some trepidation, because local expectations are high. We need to make a positive difference early.

How are you building the MTR to compete globally?
We recruited many young managers from abroad in the early days. Most of them are in senior executive ranks today. We have begun to transfer our know-how back to the rest of the world – to the UK, Sweden, Australia and beyond.

We feel it’s very important that MTR management have experiential diversity. We want our people to be exposed to a variety of working environments. We send Hong Kong colleagues to Melbourne, to London, to Stockholm. They work closely with local recruits and our partners, who have good contacts and connections. Through these interactions, MTR’s management culture and methods further evolve. It’s important to a growing global company to have managers who can adapt well, who can spend winters – long harsh winters – in Scandinavia. Coping in an unfamiliar environment hones a manager’s crisis management skills. More and more, fast track at MTR will mean stints outside Hong Kong.

What lessons have you learned about getting and doing business overseas that might benefit Hong Kong companies?
You have to give a lot of moral support and prepare people well. MTR is relatively large, so we do have resource advantages. Whenever you air-drop people, you need to make sure there is enough support for the front line. You need to know what your competencies are and where you fall short, so you can identify partners or recruit people who complement what you have. An important factor in our success is our judicious selection of partners.

Another thing to remember: never be complacent. A reputation takes many years to build. But if, on your opening day, you make customers suffer long delays, you can lose your reputation quickly.