What was behind Hong Kong train door mishap? Prominent engineer questions official line, while transport group urges MTR to investigate
- Engineer who has testified in dozens of court cases says it is unlikely a loose billboard part would generate enough force to dislodge a pair of train doors
- Meanwhile, transport professionals association demands MTR Corporation conduct an investigation to see if human error was involved
A veteran engineer dubbed “Hong Kong’s Detective Galileo” has questioned the MTR Corporation’s explanation that a loose billboard component was responsible for a rare accident in which a pair of carriage doors fell off a moving train as it pulled into a busy station on Thursday.
Lo Kok-keung, 71, a mechanical engineer nicknamed after the science-loving sleuth at the centre of a series of Japanese mystery novels, has served as an expert witness in dozens of court cases since the 2000s, and told the Post on Friday that it was improbable that a blow from a loose billboard would generate enough force to knock a set of doors off of a train if they were in good working order.
“If the outer casing of the billboard was not screwed on properly and sticking out, the force of an oncoming train would knock off or damage the billboard, not the other way around,” said Lo, a retired professor at Polytechnic University’s department of mechanical engineering.
Lo said he suspected that the screws of the sliding carriage doors were loose, causing the door frame to fall off after clipping the billboard.
Thursday’s incident at Causeway Bay plunged the MTR’s Island line into chaos at the height of rush hour, prompting service suspensions at key stations, and creating a knock-on effect on road traffic as commuters looked for alternative routes home.