‘No rush to roll out crash-linked signal system on MTR,’ Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam says

Hong Kong commuters face extended period of disruption after Monday’s accident

Operations director admits clearing wreckage is taking longer than expected and he does not know when normal service will resume

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Adi Lau said about 100 repair workers were working each shift trying to clear the wreckage of the crash. Photo: Handout

Published: 6:08am, 19 Mar 2019Updated: 2:19pm, 19 Mar 2019

Hong Kong’s leader said on Tuesday the government would not rush to introduce a new signal system on the city’s subway until it was proved to be safe, after a trial run ended in a crash which derailed a carriage, injured a driver and shut down a key link on the network.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said officials would be similarly cautious with the scandal-plagued Sha Tin-Central link, the next new line set to open on the MTR, which will use a similar system.

City commuters looked set for an extended period of disruption. Officials admitted the challenge of clearing the wreckage from Monday’s crash – which happened with no passengers on board – meant they could not say when services would get back to normal.

Trains between Central and Admiralty stations on the Tsuen Wan line were suspended. Other MTR lines, and the rest of the Tsuen Wan line, were running as normal.

Speaking before her weekly cabinet meeting, Lam said: “I would like to reiterate public safety is of primary concern. So we will not rush to open the Sha Tin-Central link or put in place this new signal system until we are assured of their safety.”

She said the government was highly concerned about the crash, for which the MTR Corporation bore “unshirkable responsibility”. She said it was lucky the crash happened on a trial run, rather than during normal service.

“If a problem arises in testing, we still have the opportunity and time to rectify it before putting the system in place,” she said.

Lam noted the government had already appointed an independent commission of inquiry to look into construction scandals at Hung Hom station on the new link, where major problems have been unearthed over the installation of reinforcement bars.