Penalty for Hong Kong’s MTR Corp over worst ever breakdown remains unclear, as lawmaker calls for review
- Former rail boss Michael Tien says existing arrangement to consider penalties are ‘mild and meaningless’
- Paper submitted to Legco rules out blame on a new upgrading test, computer virus or sabotage
The penalty for Hong Kong’s rail giant over its worst service failure ever remains unclear more than a week after the chaos, as authorities have said they would only follow up on punishment “later”, pending an investigation.
The government also said system failure was the cause, ruling out blame on a signalling upgrade project, computer virus or sabotage.
The comments were carried in a paper by the Transport and Housing Bureau, which was submitted to a Legislative Council subcommittee. The group will discuss on Monday the severe breakdown on four of the city’s lines that caused six hours of commuter turmoil on the morning of October 16.
On punishment to be meted out to the MTR Corporation, the bureau only stated that the operator would be penalised for any service disruption of 31 minutes or more caused by a system breakdown. This was according to the service performance arrangement stipulated under the rail giant’s fare adjustment mechanism.
But authorities did not elaborate on the exact amount of the fine.
“As the government and the MTR Corp are still conducting in-depth investigation on the root cause of the incident, the government will follow up with [the company] later,” the paper stated.
Under the arrangement, the rail giant faces a fine of HK$1 million per incident if a service disruption lasts between 31 minutes and an hour. A three- to four-hour delay would incur a HK$5 million fine, and a further HK$2.5 million for each extra hour.