The MTR Corporation has pledged to report to the government within a week on the cause of Monday night's chaos on the Kwun Tong line.
Affected commuters staged two protests yesterday to demand improvements in the corporation's broadcasting system and feeder bus arrangements.
Thousands of commuters were stranded between Kwun Tong and Tiu Keng Leng on Monday night after a faulty power system brought three trains to a halt between Lam Tin and Tiu Keng Leng stations at 7.30pm. Sai Kung district councillor Raymond Ho Man-kit, who was in the Kwun Tong station at the time, said an MTR announcer told passengers several times that the delay would be no more than 15 minutes. It lasted more than three hours.
'They should have been more decisive and sent commuters out once they realised the magnitude of the problem so people didn't have to wait for hours on the train and inside the stations,' he said.
The journey between Ngau Tau Kok and Lam Tin normally takes only a few minutes, but lasted almost an hour, a woman complained to RTHK radio. She said that if the MTR Corp had been frank about the situation earlier, she could have arranged for faster transport across the harbour.
MTR Corp corporate relations general manager Miranda Leung Chan Chi-ming apologised to passengers, saying the company had initially misjudged the magnitude of the problem due to its complexity. A team would investigate and report to the government by next week.