The Legislative Council has passed the Rail Merger Bill and set up a subcommittee to study the draft subsidiary legislation.

The Environment, Transport & Works Bureau today said the subsidiary legislation will be submitted to the council soon. It hopes the legislative procedures for approving the subsidiary legislation can be completed before the current LegCo session ends on July 11.

The MTR Corporation will then proceed with the steps required under the listing rules and arrange to convene an extraordinary general meeting. If its minority shareholders approve the proposal, the MTRC and the KCR Corporation will make final preparations to implement the merger. These procedures will be completed within a few months of the legislative process.

The bureau said the merger can bring about fare reductions. About 2.8 million daily passenger trips will benefit from fare falls, and the MTRC has said there will be no fare rise until June 2009.