KCR cracks not a safety issue, expert claims
Engineering professor says flaws occur during manufacturing
A civil engineering expert said yesterday that cracks found in the welding of KCRC East Rail trains were not a safety issue, a view supported by the experience of London Underground, which uses similar rolling stock.
Hung Wing-tat, an associate professor at the Department of Civil Engineering at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said: 'The cracks found in the trains are not a problem unless they are becoming wider and wider. However, after all these days since they were first discovered, they have yet to detect any widening of these cracks, which suggests they have always been there.'
Dr Hung added that as long as the cracks remained on the surface and did not develop into the structure, they did not pose any danger.
He said KCRC safety standards were not called into question. It had not been wrong to not immediately notify the government about the cracks. 'The trains are under guarantee for 30 years, so had the KCRC done anything without the supplier's instruction, the guarantee would have been made void. They did the right thing to inform the London manufacturer and attach nylon belts to the major components until the manufacturer could inspect the parts.'
He added that many materials developed hairline cracks - defined by Dr Hung as a very short crack that is about one-tenth of a millimetre wide - when they were cooled too quickly following production.
'All materials have these sorts of cracks, which are not detectable visually. I suspect they weren't discovered before because there was no need to check for them with machinery. I am sure that if the MTR Corp's trains are checked, these same cracks would be found,' he said.
A spokesman for London Underground - which uses similar rolling stock according to manufacturer Alstom - told Sunday Morning Post hairline cracks had been found in their trains in the past.
'We discovered cracks in casings underneath some of our trains. Cracks do sometimes appear but as long as the maintenance and inspection is being done, we've found that it doesn't affect the running of the trains,' said Stuart Ross.
'Cracks are most likely to occur on the welding when a piece of equipment on a railway fleet is extensively used,' he added.
Alstom has a team of experts, comprising British and local engineers, helping the independent review panel appointed by the KCRC for their investigation.
Alstom's regional communications manager said the company could not comment as it did not handle maintenance of the trains, unlike in London.
'There are several factors which might be causing the cracks but it's hard for us to say what is causing them. Until the investigation results are out, we won't know what's wrong. We are assisting the KCRC in the investigation,' said Adeline Teo.
In a bid to boost the morale of KCRC frontline workers, transport minister Sarah Liao Sau-tung and other legislators yesterday visited the rail depot where staff have been working around the clock to make sure trains were safe.
Dr Liao thanked staff and assured them that criticism of the situation was not directed at them.
Inspections of the trains are expected to be completed tomorrow and the results of the independent review panel would available by the end of the month.
The Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation declined to comment.
Transport services legislator Miriam Lau Kin-yee was also unwilling to comment until the investigation panel's findings had been published.
