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METRO

Hong Kong firm wins contract to operate Stockholm’s subway

Stockholm Public Transport (SL) on Tuesday announced that a €1.9 billion ($2.45 billion) eight-year contract to run the Stockholm Metro had been awarded to Hong Kong's subway operator, MTR.

“In competition with five other bidders, the Hong Kong based company MTR has won the right to operate the Stockholm Metro for the next eight years,” SL said in a statement.

MTR beat out the current operator, Veolia Transport of France, which was also in the running.

“MTR submitted the best bid from a quality standpoint and that was decisive in this procurement,” SL managing director Ingemar Ziegler said.

The Hong Kong company will take over responsibility on November 2nd.

Under the agreement, SL will pay a fixed price of 2.46 billion kronor ($293 million) per year, as well as 145 million kronor of financial incentives on punctuality, cleaning and customer satisfaction.

The contract includes a possible extension for an additional six years.

SL said it did not anticipate any radical changes when MTR takes over in November but expected the quality of metro services to improve.

The approximately 3,000 employees currently in the metro will be entitled to transfer to MTR, SL said.

In 2007, MTR won its first overseas franchise, a £700 million ($978 million) deal to run a London railway that will service the 2012 Olympic Games.

STOCKHOLM

Stockholm Pride is a little different this year: here’s what you need to know 

This week marks the beginning of Pride festivities in the Swedish capital. The tickets sold out immediately, for the partly in-person, partly digital events. 

Pride parade 2019
There won't be a Pride parade like the one in 2019 on the streets of Stockholm this year. Photo: Stina Stjernkvist/TT

You might have noticed rainbow flags popping up on major buildings in Stockholm, and on buses and trams. Sweden has more Pride festivals per capita than any other country and is the largest Pride celebration in the Nordic region, but the Stockholm event is by far the biggest.  

The Pride Parade, which usually attracts around 50,000 participants in a normal year, will be broadcast digitally from Södra Teatern on August 7th on Stockholm Pride’s website and social media. The two-hour broadcast will be led by tenor and debater Rickard Söderberg.

The two major venues of the festival are Pride House, located this year at the Clarion Hotel Stockholm at Skanstull in Södermalm, and Pride Stage, which is at Södra Teatern near Slussen.

“We are super happy with the layout and think it feels good for us as an organisation to slowly return to normal. There are so many who have longed for it,” chairperson of Stockholm Pride, Vix Herjeryd, told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper.

Tickets are required for all indoor events at Södra Teatern to limit the number of people indoors according to pandemic restrictions. But the entire stage programme will also be streamed on a big screen open air on Mosebacketerassen, which doesn’t require a ticket.  

You can read more about this year’s Pride programme on the Stockholm Pride website (in Swedish). 

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