EditorialHong Kong’s MTR travellers must know what to do at times of emergency
- Advice by city railway giant shown to be lacking again after latest incident in which passengers walked along tracks
Hong Kong’s railway system has such a remarkable record for service reliability – 99.9 per cent – that a single incident, no matter how serious or unsafe, is unlikely to discredit its claim to be one of the best in the world. But if there are more like the one on Monday it could become a different story.
The MTR Corporation needs to leave no stone unturned in an inquiry into an incident at Wan Chai station on the Island line, in which about 20 passengers used an emergency exit to let themselves out of a carriage and onto the tracks after train doors and platform screen doors failed to open.
It could have led to a tragic accident and not just a service disruption. It cannot be dismissed as a one-off incident unlikely to be repeated.
A similar case at Yau Ma Tei station on the Tsuen Wan line last November remains fresh in the memory. About 150 commuters walked along the tracks in a tunnel after their train was derailed.
In the latest incident, the passengers may not have been meant to open the driving cabin and emergency ramp at the rear of the train. But, amid unease about being locked in a compartment without explanation, and despite the driver’s appeal for patience and his reassurance that the doors would be opened, they took things into their own hands.
That at least partly reflects a lack of education and awareness – and trust that the MTR would come to the rescue.