Hong Kong rail operator MTR Corporation to investigate near miss between train and maintenance workers
- Driver stops train 100 metres from track crew early on Monday morning near East Tsim Sha Tsui station
- Traffic controller suspended by bosses, who say they ‘cannot rule out human error’
Hong Kong’s rail operator has opened an investigation after a train came within 100 metres of a track maintenance crew on Monday.
The early morning incident happened before services began on the West Rail Line near East Tsim Sha Tsui station, the MTR Corporation said.
No one was injured and services were not affected, but in a statement, the corporation said a traffic controller had been suspended from duty and would be helping with an inquiry into the near miss.
Officials said there may have been a breakdown in communication between the operations control centre and on-site maintenance personnel, and this would be one focus of the investigation.
“Human error cannot be ruled out at the current stage,” the statement added.
According to the rail operator, the driver of the train was taking the empty vehicle from Hung Hom station to East Tsim Sha Tsui at about 5am, when he noticed there were maintenance workers on the adjacent track in front of him.
The driver immediately braked and came to a halt more than 100 metres away, the railway company said, adding the train was moving at a slow speed. The person in charge of the maintenance crew immediately notified the operations control centre.
