MTR chairman Frederick Ma says controversial comments on derailment were result of ‘hot weather’ or ‘not praying’
Ma said there was no need to report every incident to the public, or to amend his comments
Hong Kong’s rail chief on Monday blamed the sun and missing his morning prayers for controversial comments he made last week, when he was asked to give details of a derailment on the new express rail link to mainland China.
After being pressed for more information on the April incident last Saturday, Ma told reporters that it would be “meaningless” to give more details, as they were not technicians. Also, he said, with more information the media would ask more questions.
He explained that some of the information was internal and could not be disclosed to the public.
“If we tell you it’s OK then it is, there is no need to worry,” Ma said, adding he hoped people would understand his position.
On Monday, Ma said there was no need to report every incident to the public, or to amend his comments.
Issues such as water leaks, which Ma said did not affect passenger safety, do not have to be reported to the public.
MTR chief Frederick Ma hits back at ‘illogical and unfair’ criticism
“Under the three principles, the public can rest assured that we have a high [degree of] transparency,” Ma said.
In April, a section of the express rail link’s signalling system was affected by a water leakage, but the company did not tell the public about the incident.
After the trial period, Ma said, the project would be inspected by government departments before it commences.
He also urged the public to “have faith” in the corporation’s management.
Civic Party lawmaker Tanya Chan said Ma was only trying to explain his “poor attitude”.
“His comment was illogical and unreasonable,” she said, adding it was “extraordinary” that the HK$84.4 billion (US$10.7 billion) project should run into such frequent glitches.
Chan also said it was strange that the requirements for reporting incidents to the public had been set by the MTR Corp and urged the government to take a more active role in monitoring the project.
“Perhaps the public’s confidence in MTR Corp is not too strong,” he said.
Instead of having incidents exposed by the media, the DAB lawmaker said MTR Corp should actively report incidents in a regular fashion.