Substandard work on Sha Tin-Central link may have affected a second platform at Hung Hom station, inspection results show
- Highways Department released results for inspections of eight new reinforcement bar samples on Friday
- MTR Corporation is in the process of breaking open at least 80 sections of the two new platforms at the scandal-plagued station
The problems of shoddy work on Hong Kong’s costliest rail project may have affected another platform at the scandal-hit Hung Hom station, investigators have found, sparking calls for more digging.
The discovery came on Friday night as the Highways Department released the inspection results of eight new reinforcement bar samples on two Hung Hom station platforms for the Sha Tin-Central link – five on the north-south platform for the Hung Hom-Admiralty section released for the first time, and three on the east-west platform for the Tai Wai-Hung Hom section.
Among the first five samples for the north-south platform measured by ultrasonic machines, a steel bar was found to be substandard, with only 36.36mm screwed into its coupler without any exposed thread, thus showing signs of being shortened.
According to the supplier, at least 40mm of each bar should be screwed into its coupler, and anything less than 37mm is deemed substandard, taking into account a measurement tolerance of 3mm.
The latest findings brought the total number of faulty bars to 12 of the 39 coupler connections checked, with an overall substandard rate of 31 per cent.
At the east-west platform near the western diaphragm wall, one rebar and a coupler were also found to be unconnected and could not be tested. So far 34 steel bars have been examined at the site, of which 11 were found to be shoddily installed.