Hong Kong MTR delays after discovery of ‘broken rail’ near East Tsim Sha Tsui
- Cracks found on railway leaves passengers facing rush-hour delays between Austin and East Tsim Sha Tsui
- Days after damning report into last year’s serious derailment, MTR Corporation apologises for inconvenience caused by latest incident
Trains between Austin and East Tsim Sha Tsui on the West Rail line were running at slower speeds than usual on Thursday afternoon after a crack was discovered on the track, the MTR Corporation has said.
A spokesman for MTR Corp said maintenance staff had completed temporary consolidation work in the affected section and normal services were gradually resuming on the West Rail line from about 5pm.
“The broken rail on the track section has been temporarily fixed. Safe train operation is being maintained … The MTR staff will replace the rail section during non-traffic hours in the night,” he said.
A train driver alerted colleagues to a strange noise when the train passed through that section of the railway, before maintenance staff discovered the crack at about 3.30pm, an MTR spokesman said on Thursday night.
He added every rail track was firmly secured to the ground by steel locks so even if there was a crack, its position would not be affected.
An MTR Corp statement earlier said trains were operating at a slower speed from Austin to East Tsim Sha Tsui “due to a broken rail detected on a section of rail near East Tsim Sha Tsui”.
“This could extend the total journey time on the West Rail line from Tuen Mun to Hung Hom by five to 10 minutes,” it added.
The rail giant had said train services between Hung Hom and Tuen Mun were running at 14-minute intervals, while those between Nam Cheong and Tuen Mun were every seven minutes.
Thursday’s incident follows last week’s publication of a report into the East Rail line derailment near Hung Hom station on September 17 last year, Hong Kong’s most serious in more than two decades.
Train derailing inquiry finds MTR maintenance staff bungled track repairs
The investigation concluded the MTR maintenance team had made a series of flawed judgments when trying to fix a track gauge at a turnout section, including the failure to strictly adhere to protocols in following up on the work they had done and not properly compiling reports for senior management.
The track defects led to three carriages of the train coming off the track, injuring eight passengers as it approached Hung Hom station and forcing the suspension of services between Hung Hom and Mong Kok East stations for the day.
It was the second major operational incident in a year. Last March, two trains collided during a trial run outside service hours. No passengers were involved but the collision crippled services in the heart of the city.
Protest-hit MTR Corp sees 45 per cent slump in recurrent business, to HK$4.98 billion
The government said then that the MTR Corp had been “carrying out maintenance of tracks in strict accordance with established maintenance procedures”, adding the firm had proposed new measures for track maintenance to avoid a repeat.
