Hong Kong MTR could resume normal service within a fortnight, but only without fresh attacks by protesters, transport chief says

Transport minister Frank Chan hopeful that early closures of metro system will end in ‘one or two weeks’

But that is dependent on behaviour of vandals, he says, who have wreaked havoc on MTR network during violent demonstrations

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An entrance to one of the MTR’s busiest stations burns as hard-core demonstrators continue their wrecking campaign against the rail operator. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 6:59pm, 18 Oct 2019Updated: 7:27pm, 18 Oct 2019

Normal service could resume on Hong Kong’s MTR within a fortnight if radical protesters did not attack the railway and its facilities again, the city’s transport chief has said.

The metro system has been shutting early over the past week as part of a timetable reduction the MTR Corporation said was in place to allow damage inflicted by hard-core elements of the anti-government movement to be repaired.

Frank Chan, who is charge of the city’s transport, says if the MTR can avoid fresh outbreaks of vandalism it could be running full services again within a week or two. Photo: Felix Wong

On when the MTR could return to full service, Secretary for Transport and Housing Frank Chan Fan said: “It all depends whether or not there will be more damage [to the network].

“If everything remains normal, with no further attacks or damage, I would say that one or two weeks would possibly be the target [for resuming services],” he said in a radio programme on Friday.

“But if stations are vandalised during the weekends, the wounds would be unable to heal.”