The Hong Kong subway, also known as the Mass Transit Railway Corporation, was set up in 1979. Despite its relatively small size (90 km), compared to other metro systems across the globe, the MTR transports an average of 2.46 million rides per day.

The Hong Kong system is based on a British design. Recently, approval was granted for the merger of the MTR and the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, to make the system more cost-effective and efficient.

Image: A foreign visitor has his picture taken next to a digital Olympic Games countdown screen in an underground train station in Hong Kong, 07 August 2007, as China prepares to mark the one-year milestone to the Beijing Olympics. | Photograph: Samantha Sin/AFP/Getty Images.