Transport officials have warned the disruption-prone MTR Corporation that it could face punishment if there is another serious service breakdown.
But the warning, which followed 86 disruptions of eight minutes or more within 92 days between July and September, was greeted with cynicism by lawmakers citing a lack of action in the past by the government, which is the rail operator's biggest shareholder.
Documents submitted by the MTR yesterday to a special meeting of the Legislative Council's transport panel on railways showed that 64, or 70 per cent, of the disruptions resulted from equipment failure or human error, an increase from 56 such cases for the same period last year.
More than a third were on East Rail, the former Kowloon-Canton Railway line and the oldest in the MTR's network.
Undersecretary for transport and housing Yau Shing-mu said the bureau had written to top management of MTR after a 191 minute-delay on the Tsuen Wan line last year, asking the rail operator to 'pledge to undertake all remedial measures and contingency plans'.
'If similar things happen again in future, with such a large-scale impact and failure to enforce the contingency plans, the government actually has some punitive measures according to the legislation,' he said.
But Legco transport panel chairman Andrew Cheng Kar-foo said the government had never imposed any punishment on the railway giant, not even a monetary one.