Probe into safety of Sha Tin-Central rail platforms to be expanded after experts find ‘inconsistencies’ in MTR’s records

More thorough safety and load tests to be conducted on scandal-hit HK$97.1 billion rail link project

Report comes after team of government-appointed experts was sent into MTR Corp two months ago

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Part of the MTR’s Sha Tin-Central rail link where the structural integrity of the platforms was called into question. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 7:00pm, 24 Oct 2018Updated: 11:32pm, 24 Oct 2018

A probe into the structural safety of the platforms on Hong Kong’s most expensive rail project is to be expanded on the advice of government-appointed experts.

Safety tests, which involve breaking open concrete structures, and loading tests, will now be conducted on both platforms of the HK$97.1 billion (US$12.3 billion) Sha Tin-Central rail link, the government said on Wednesday.

The move came after three experts, sent into the MTR Corporation two months ago as troubleshooters, found the original plan to test one platform insufficient.

A series of scandals has hit the rail link since May, causing the departure of four MTR Corp project managers in August.

The contract, which was awarded to Leighton Contractors (Asia) in 2013, involved the creation of two new underground platforms below the existing Hung Hom station.

The government confirmed in August that a diaphragm wall on the upper platform had been shortened and the number of metal couplers installed was 2,000 fewer than planned.

In a 34-page interim report released on Wednesday, experts said there was “inevitable concern” that shoddy work also affected the lower platform, which would serve the cross-harbour section of the rail link connecting Hung Hom to Admiralty.