Independent review promised after MTR fails to screen faulty insulators

The MTR Corporation has promised to replace a suspect batch of electrical insulators on the East Rail Line after a second fault in 10 days caused delays for three hours during the evening rush.

Yesterday's chaos prompted operations director Dr Jacob Kam Chak-pui to admit that the MTR had failed to screen a batch of insulators from a "famous European brand" that were installed in 2011 and are being blamed for the problems.

Services were hit from about 4pm after a faulty insulator in an overhead cable near Fanling station triggered a short circuit. Trains travelling in both directions between Tai Po Market and the Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau stations were forced to share a track until the problem was fixed some three hours later.

Trains ran at 15-minute intervals between Hung Hom and Tai Po Market, every 20 minutes between Tai Po Market and Lo Wu and every 30 minutes from Tai Po Market to Lok Ma Chau.

"It's even worse than the diesel-fuel trains in the old days," said passenger Cheung Kun-sing, who was forced to wait for more than half an hour at Fanling for a train to Hung Hom.

"Of course I'm extremely dissatisfied with the MTR. Breakdowns a few times in just a few months," said Cheung.

He complained that he had not even been told there was a problem until he reached the platform at Fanling.