KAOHSIUNG MRT DEFICIT EXPECTED TO BE REDUCED: OFFICIAL.

KAOHSIUNG, May 1 Asia Pulse - The Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit System is expected to cut its operating losses this year by NT$900 million (US$27.08 million), a city official said Thursday.

Chou Teh-li, acting director of the city's Kaohsiung City Rapid Transit Department, forecast that the system is likely to slash spending in 2009 thanks to a retrenchment plan that the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp. (KRTC) implemented in 2008 after the launch of its Red Line in March that same year.

The MRT system consists of the Red Line, which is 28.3-km long, has 23 stations and runs from Kaohsiung's Siaogang district to Chiaotou in neighboring Kaohsiung County, and the Orange Line, which began running in August 2008 and is 14.4-km long with 15 stations running from Sizihwan in western Kaohsiung to Daliao township in Kaohsiung County.

Chou expressed concern that the KRTC might encounter difficulties if operational losses continue to expand.

The Kaohsiung city government, meanwhile, has been mulling the possibility of adopting possible countermeasures in the hope of tackling the looming crisis to secure the system's continued operations in the ...