Tokyo Metro and Sumitomo Corporation have 17.5% share each of consortium that won the 7 year contract to run the Elizabeth Line, meaning Hong Kong owned incumbent MTR lost. Sumitomo Corporation is looking to develop commercial and retail opportunities around stations – as happens in Japan and is beginning to happen in London Underground stations. Tokyo Metro’s incentive for getting involved is that it did not attract institutional investors when it listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange last month, because of lack of growth opportunities in Japan, where population is declining.
But what impact will Tokyo Metro have on the actual operations of the Elizabeth Line? I share the Toyo Keizai correspondent’s scepticism as to whether it will “breathe a breath of fresh air into the British railway industry in the form of ‘Japanese railway culture’” There no indication as yet that Tokyo Metro will be starting a subsidiary in the UK, nor that any Tokyo Metro staff will be transferred to London.
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