MTR is the metro system of Hong Kong. First opened for service in 1979, the network has since expanded to encompass seven metro lines and 53 stations, with further expansions planned. It is an affordable mode of public transport in Hong Kong, with an average of 2.45 million journeys recorded each day. The system has proven so popular because of its efficiency and affordability. Construction of the MTR was prompted by a government-commissioned study released in 1967. The government of Hong Kong commissioned the study in the 1960s to find solutions to the growing traffic problem caused by expansion of the colony's economy. Construction started soon after release of the study, and the first line was opened in 1979. In 2000, the government-owned MTR Corporation was partially privatised and renamed the MTR Corporation Limited. MTR Corporation has always been reliant on developing properties next to railway stations for its profits (although the rail lines are profitable themselves); many recently built stations are incorporated into large housing estates or shopping complexes.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1509: King Henry VIII of England married Catherine of Aragon. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Aragon)

1770: Captain James Cook ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Barrier_Reef)

1899: Pope Leo XIII dedicated the entire human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Heart)

1963: The University of Alabama was desegregated as Governor George Wallace stepped aside after a stand in the schoolhouse door. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wallace)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"The good writing of any age has always been the product of someone's neurosis, and we'd have a mighty dull literature if all the writers that came along were a bunch of happy chuckleheads." -- William Styron (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Styron)