Hire a third-party consultant to review signalling system after crash, former Hong Kong transport minister Anthony Cheung tells MTR Corp
- Cheung insists on need to find any systemic flaws
- But he rejects calls for supplier to be taken off the job
Anthony Cheung Bing-leung agreed with the MTR Corporation that the collision near Central station during an overnight trial run of the new signalling system could have exposed serious flaws in the system. He added that the rail giant must demand a detailed explanation from the supplier, Thales.
“There is a need for the MTR Corp to review the system of monitoring its suppliers and how effective it is,” he said.
“Is the latest incident related to other hiccups spotted during the trial run? Are there any systemic flaws, or is it just an incident arising from a particular operation?”
He noted that the corporation hired independent experts to review its overhead cable system in the wake of a five-hour delay on the Tseung Kwan O Line in December 2013, and said it could do the same in this instance.
“The MTR Corporation could always consider the option of hiring a third-party expert should it be concerned about the performance of the new signalling system’s supplier in the present project,” Cheung said.
On Monday, two trains crashed near Central station during an overnight trial run of the new system, derailing one carriage and injuring a driver. No passengers were on board.
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Tsuen Wan line services between Central and Admiralty, two stations in the city’s business district, were suspended for two days. The MTR Corp said a software problem in the new system could have been to blame.
Cheung, who handled a series of disruptions to MTR services during his tenure as secretary for transport and housing from 2012 to 2017, disagreed with the idea of terminating Thales’ contract.
“There are only a few suppliers in the world that have the expertise in the field. We shouldn’t make rash decisions,” he said.
Speaking on a radio programme on Tuesday, the corporation’s head of operations engineering, Dr Tony Lee Kar-yun, said software supplier Thales could be punished for the crash.
Thales, in a joint venture with fellow French company Alstom, was awarded a HK$3.3 billion contract in 2015 to install a system known as SelTrac CBTC on seven lines. The Tsuen Wan line was to be the system’s first roll-out.
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Cheung said the MTR Corp could seek compensation from the supplier for damage to its reputation and possible delays in upgrading the signalling system, if its claims were substantiated.
Work upgrading the signalling systems on the Tsuen Wan line and East Rail line were in limbo, with tests suspended until further notice following safety concerns after the crash.
Pro-government legislator Michael Tien Puk-sun said he had lost faith in Thales, and the government should consider bringing in a new contractor to finish the job.
“The biggest issue is the public’s confidence in this company working on all the signalling systems,” Tien, who was chair of the KCR network before it merged with the MTR, said.
Cheung conceded that members of the public would unavoidably associate the train collision with the construction work scandals on the Sha Tin-Central Rail Link, where shoddy installation of reinforcement bars has been unearthed.
“There is not much the MTR Corp can do at the moment to arrest the decline in public confidence,” he said. “The top priority at this stage is to find out the reasons for the collision.”
