KCRC officials admitted the design of West Rail's signalling system had some 'deviation', but they said it would be unfair to ask the contractor to shoulder the costs of a $20 million improvement project.
The admission in the Legislative Council's transport panel meeting came after the corporation singled out stormy weather as the cause of 13 signal failures this year that led to a disruption of services and delayed commuters for up to 41/2 hours in July.
Lawmakers attacked the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation in yesterday's panel meeting, criticising it for lacking the courage to carry out its responsibilities.
'It is not the first year Hong Kong has had stormy weather - are you telling me that this is unpredictable? Why don't you pursue the contractor for the [$20 million in] costs?' said Lau Kong-wah, vice-chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.
Andrew Cheng Kar-foo, of the Democratic Party, also expressed his concerns.
'If stormy weather is your excuse, I'd be so worried that our West Rail system is so fragile that it can't even stand a single strike,' said Mr Cheng.
Signal and communications systems manager Henry Cheung said contractor Alcatel Canada agreed to lengthen the free maintenance period to the end of this year.