Letters | Hong Kong MTR goes off track with shorter East Rail trains during rush hour
- Thoughtful MTR planners could have introduced semi-express trains to alleviate the crunch, while leaving the longer trains to terminate service before crossing the harbour on the newly extended line
The MTR Corporation has, in my opinion, made a grotesque error of judgment in deciding to adopt the shorter nine-car units, thereby reducing the capacity of these trains by about 25 per cent.
MTR Corp knew all along that these trains were of insufficient capacity during peak periods of travel. If engineering difficulties and constraints prevented some of the stations on the newly extended line from being of sufficient length to accommodate 12 cars, MTR Corp could have opted for some of these longer trains to terminate service prior to proceeding across the harbour, either at:
a) Mong Kok East, where there is already a third track and a platform No 3; and/or by building an additional platform by using the former and now disused freight yard;
or,
b) by terminating the longer 12-car trains at Hung Hom where there are sufficient tracks.