Light-rail fire adds to MTR's troubles
Blaze comes one day after five-hour shutdown on Tseung Kwan O line; bosses face questions over use of contractors for maintenance
The MTR suffered its second setback in 24 hours yesterday when one of its light-rail trains burst into flames, sparking the evacuation of 160 rush-hour passengers.
The incident, in Tin Shui Wai, came less than a day after a power failure halted services on the Tseung Kwan O MTR line for almost five hours, prompting concerns over the contracting out of maintenance work on the line.
No one was injured in yesterday's fire but fire crews and ambulances sped to the scene shortly before 9am after smoke was seen billowing from the air-conditioning system on the roof at the rear of the two-carriage train near Tin Wu.
The 160 passengers were evacuated at Tin Wu and the burning train was taken to an emergency platform at Hung Tin Road, where fire crews took 15 minutes to douse the flames.
The blaze followed Monday's major incident which closed down the Tseung Kwan O line for hours, leaving MTR employees and lawmakers questioning whether a policy of contracting out maintenance work was a contributing factor.
Maintenance has been carried out by subcontractors since the line opened in 2002. One MTR worker said the quality of maintenance was so unsatisfactory that, earlier this year, 10 workers from other lines had to be redeployed to work on the track, which runs from Hong Kong Island to the eastern New Territories.
Monday's problems began when a 30-metre length of overhead cable came loose between Yau Tong and Tiu King Leng stations on a stretch of track shared by the Kwun Tong line.