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Denise Tsang

The MTR suspended services on the Airport Express and Tung Chung lines for almost an hour yesterday afternoon because of a signal problem.

About 3,000  passengers were affected, the MTRC said.

It  issued its red alert and asked other transport operators to boost  their services when the malfunction forced the company to halt its service between Hong Kong station and Kowloon station at 3.40pm.

The Airport Express' in-town check-in service was also suspended.

The company mobilised a fleet of shuttle buses to transport passengers between Hong Kong station and the airport.

It also managed to maintain a limited train service for the other stations of the two lines.

Airport Express trains were operating between Kowloon station and the airport at 15-minute intervals.

Travel on the Tung Chung line was also limited to between Kowloon station and Tung Chung, with trains leaving at 10-minute intervals.

Normal service was resumed  at 4.37pm, and the company said it was  investigating the cause of the incident.

Meanwhile, the MTR will  extend a fare promotion for nine months, until the end of next September,  rather than cutting fares as deflation continues to bite.

MTR chief executive Sir Chung-kong Chow  said  the decision to extend the promotion - which allows passengers to redeem one free ticket for every 10 rides per week - was mainly because of its popularity.

But Sir C.K.  did not respond to public calls for reducing fares, saying fare promotions offered savings equivalent to an average 8 per cent  reduction in fares or as much as 40 per cent  for long-distance travellers.

'Keeping up competitiveness is of utmost importance to us as a commercially run and listed company,' said Sir C.K.



3,000 hit by disruption to Airport Express, Tung Chung service