MTR Corporation Limited is a majority government-owned public transport operator and property developer in Hong Kong which operates the Mass Transit Railway, the most popular public transport network in Hong Kong.

The Mass Transit Railway Corporation (Chinese: 地下鐵路公司) was established on 22 September 1972 as a government-owned statutory corporation to build and operate a mass transit railway system to meet Hong Kong's public transport needs.

On 11 September 2000, the financial secretary of the Hong Kong Government, Sir Donald Tsang, announced the partial privatisation of MTR Corporation Limited.

[4] There had been some discussion of merging the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC), which was also government-owned and the MTRCL to make the territory's transport system more efficient.

In addition, MTRCL would make a payment of $7.79 billion for the acquisition of property and other related commercial interests.

It was widely considered that the government's choice was to avoid being criticised for selling assets of the KCRC, which it wholly owned, to MTRCL for an unreasonably low price.

Leasing the operation rights of the KCR system to the MTRCL avoided actually selling the KCRC.

"Hong Kong Railway Corporation Limited") after being granted the Service Concession while the English name will remain unchanged.

This also resulted in changing the system's Chinese name from "地鐵" ("Subway") to "港鐵" "(Hong Kong Railway").

[10] Student Octopus holders would continue to pay the current reduced concessionary fares on the MTR network.

[11] In July 2021, Liber Research Community, an NGO, produced a report which detailed the history of MTR's revenue model.

On 5 October 2000 the operator of the MTR network, the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC), became Hong Kong's first rail company to be partially privatised, marking the beginning of the Hong Kong government's initiative to reduce its interests in public utilities.

The rail lines are profitable, but the MTR Corporation derives most of its profits from property development (usually adjacent to railway stations) and other commercial activities in Hong Kong, including the letting of retail and poster advertising space, ATM banking facilities, and personal telecommunication services [citation needed].

The site includes the tallest commercial building in Hong Kong, the 118-storey International Commerce Centre.