pre-tax earnings of $196 million. It set to provide a spectrum of transport services ranging from bus and taxi services to leasing and vehicle maintenance and inspections. The merger's only rival then was SMRT Corporation, which had a market capitalisation of around $930 million, sales of $500 million and pre-tax profits of $88.5 million then. Its fleet of some 600 buses and 2,000 taxis was smaller, but it was operating Singapore's rail network entirely. Singapore operations Bus and Rail ComfortDelGro owns 75% of SBS Transit, which is listed separately on the Singapore Exchange. SBS Transit is a leading bus and rail operator in Singapore. Every day, it carries more than three million passengers on its extensive bus and rail network. SBS Transit operates about 250 bus services with a fleet of more than 3,200 buses. The buses serve 17 interchanges and more than 3,500 bus stops island-wide. Additionally, SBS Transit operates the North East line, which is Singapore's first fully automated, underground heavy rail system that connects Punggol to HarbourFront, as well as the Sengkang and Punggol LRT line. SBS Transit also operates the Downtown line. It is 42 km long with 34 stations, making it the longest underground line in Singapore. The first stage of the Downtown line commenced passenger service on 22 December 2013. The second and third stages were ready for passenger service on 27 December 2015 and 21 October 2017 respectively. ComfortDelGro Bus, as a private-bus charter subsidiary, is the largest private land-transport company in Singapore, which offers a wide range of bus charter services, including employee and school bus services. It also offers overland bus services to West Malaysia, and operates premium bus services, complementing those offered by SBS Transit. Taxi Comfort and CityCab, both taxi companies belonging to ComfortDelGro Corporation, are the largest players in Singapore's taxi industry with a combined fleet of 16,600 taxis. The ComfortDelGro taxi booking system wirelessly connects the taxis using the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology via the in-vehicle Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs). Today, its Customer Contact Centre caters to over 32 million taxi bookings annually. Comfort and CityCab also operate ComfortDelGro LimoCabs and MaxiCabs in its fleet. CityCab was formed in 1995 from the merger of SABS (Singapore Airport Bus Services), SBS Taxi and Singapore Commuters. Automotive Engineering Besides servicing private cars through its SPARK Car Care business, ComfortDelGro Engineering provides accident repair for most of ComfortDelGro's