Hong Kong legislators urge MTR Corp to speed up installation of platform screen doors after 2 suicides on East Rail line on Sunday
- Police received two reports of individuals falling on tracks at platforms along East Rail line
- Legislator Michael Tien calls on rail giant to publicly commit to installing doors in at least two or three stations simultaneously
Train services were disrupted after police received a report at 12.45pm on Sunday that a man had fallen onto the tracks at Fanling station at the platform heading towards Admiralty.
Paramedics found the 67-year-old with multiple injuries when they arrived at the scene and he was later pronounced dead.
The force classified the incident as suicide. No note was found at the scene and an autopsy would be carried out, it added.
A police insider said there appeared to be no suspicious circumstances and that officers were still trying to contact the man’s family for further investigation.
Train services were disrupted for more than an hour, but returned to normal at 1.52pm.
In a separate incident, a woman aged 20 fell onto the tracks at Kowloon Tong station at the platform heading towards Admiralty at 3.45pm.
Police said she was found unconscious under a carriage and later certified dead at Kwong Wah Hospital, despite efforts to resuscitate her.
Officers later confirmed the death was being treated as a suicide.
The rail operator arranged free shuttle buses for passengers between Kowloon Tong and Sha Tin stations via Tai Wai, before train services restarted at 4.48pm.
But legislator Michael Tien Puk-sun, a former chairman of the now-defunct Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, said progress on the project was slow.
“Since the opening of the East Rail line’s cross-harbour section [in May 2022], the MTR Corp has hardly done anything. There have been constant delays, accidents one after another that have cost lives,” he said.
“I now demand that the MTR Corp publicly commit to installing platform screen doors in at least two or three stations simultaneously to ensure they are all put in place by the end of next year at the latest,” he said.
Gary Zhang Xinyu, vice-chairman of the Legislative Council’s subcommittee on railways, said the company must speed up construction despite the limitations it faced.
“Screen doors can only be installed when train services are suspended at night. It cannot be done during regular track and electrical maintenance,” he explained. “Ideally, the MTR Corp needs to find ways to expedite the process despite the constraints.”
The former MTR project manager added the installation of screen barriers had been completed at Lok Ma Chau and Racecourse stations, with work soon to be finished at Tai Po Market station.
Zhang said the doors would be put up last at Mong Kok East and University stations because they had larger curved platforms with wider gaps that required additional gap filters to prevent passengers from getting stuck or falling.
He suggested the rail operator could improve training and increase staffing levels on platforms without screen doors to identify individuals at risk, especially people who spent a lot of time there.
“You can engage with them earlier to mitigate potential risks,” he said.
The MTR Corp said the installation project involved various processes, including “foundation reinforcement and system coordination”.
The company added that it had already prioritised the process at Sheung Shui, Sha Tin and Tai Wai Stations.
“The remaining stations will commence their respective installation projects in an orderly manner,” a company spokesman said.
He added the MTR Corp had introduced a variety of measures to remind passengers to be careful of the platform gap, including lighting cues and rubber strips to reduce the space between platforms and the trains.
