Latest news with #MTR
South China Morning Post
2 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong's MTR Corporation opens the Island line in 1985 — from the SCMP archive
This article was first published on June 1, 1985. Advertisement by Francis Li and Louis Liu Massive roll-up as new line opens Huge crowds rolled up to try out the Mass Transit Railway Island line which went into operation without a hitch on Friday (May 31, 1985). An MTR Corporation spokesman said on Friday night more than 136,000 people travelled on the line between Chai Wan and Admiralty stations in the first five hours after it opened for commuters at 2pm. Rostered station staff helped by volunteer MTR workers turned out in force to help passengers, many of whom were first-time MTR commuters. Advertisement The Causeway Bay station was so busy that many commuters said they had to queue for nearly 20 minutes for a ticket, well before the evening rush hours.
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- General
- South China Morning Post
Glass window on MTR train cracks on Kwun Tong line, prompting passengers to alight
A glass panel of a window on a train travelling on the MTR's Kwun Tong line cracked on Thursday night, prompting shocked passengers to disembark at Lok Fu station. Advertisement The MTR said on Friday that it would investigate the cause of the incident, saying no injuries were reported due to the window's double-glazed safety glass design. The rail operator said the incident happened at around 7.30pm on Thursday as the train was approaching Lok Fu station and the captain was alerted by passengers to the cracked window in one of the carriages. 'Since the window is made of double-layered safety glass with an interlayer which prevents shards of glass from flowing, no passengers were affected,' the MTR said in a statement. 'As a precautionary measure, the Operations Control Centre arranged for all passengers to alight at Lok Fu station and transfer to the next available train to continue their journey.' Advertisement The rail giant said the affected train had been taken out of service and sent back to the depot for a thorough inspection and follow-up.
RTHK
5 days ago
- Business
- RTHK
Tien not on board with MTR over need for shutdown
Tien not on board with MTR over need for shutdown Michael Tien said he didn't think it was necessary to shut down the entire Tseung Kwan O line on Thursday. File photo: RTHK A lawmaker has questioned why the MTR Corporation had to shut down the entire Tseung Kwan O line last Thursday, when power and signalling failures halted services for five hours starting from the evening rush hour. Roundtable's Michael Tien quoted the railway company as telling him that it couldn't switch to manual operation and use the one available track for trains to go both ways because the section was still running on the old signalling system. Tien, who chaired the Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation before the merger of the two rail companies, said he didn't find the explanation acceptable. "When you look at the past two, three years, service disruptions didn't affect the whole Tsuen Wan and Island lines – with both of them also running on the old signalling system," he told RTHK's In the Chamber programme. "They just switched to manual. "The design is that, once the automated system isn't safe enough, you can go manual so that the trains would go at a slower speed." The government has said the MTR has to spend more than HK$19 million on passenger rebates because of the service disruption. As a result of the Tseung Kwan O stoppage and two others earlier in February and April, the MTRC will be having a day of half-priced fares on a Saturday or Sunday. Tien said he found it "a bit funny" that passengers across the entire network would benefit, when it was mostly those taking the Tseung Kwan O line trains that bore the brunt of the shutdown.
South China Morning Post
5 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
How MTR can plan ahead for unavoidable service disruptions
Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at [email protected] or filling in this Google form . Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification Advertisement With one of the highest percentages of public transport dependence among major cities, Hong Kong's urban life hinges to a large extent on the reliability of public transport. When a disruption hits its mass transit system, such as last week's five-hour shutdown of the MTR's Tseung Kwan O line during the evening rush hour, it doesn't just delay commutes; it shakes public confidence. As infrastructure ages, some service deterioration is inevitable. But resilient cities prepare for problems, not ignore them. In the US, metro systems in New York, Boston and San Francisco now face routine service failures – riders left not by choice but due to lost reliability. Hong Kong must not go down that road. Last year, the MTR proved it could manage scheduled works on the Kwun Tong line, with Prince Edward, Mong Kok, Yau Ma Tei and Ho Man Tin stations closed for cable hanger replacement. But planning for scheduled maintenance is easy. What truly builds trust is planning for the unplanned. MTR Corp must shift from reactive to proactive crisis handling. Current responses are often ad hoc and vary by incident. Instead, MTR could maintain pre-coordinated response plans across peer transport providers and communicate tailored alternatives to passengers in real time via the MTR app. Disruption may be unavoidable, but confusion doesn't have to be. Advertisement Its performance evaluation should also move beyond narrow technical metrics. Current penalties focus on service downtime, but passengers feel delays more broadly. A train delay may be 15 minutes, but a passenger delay could spiral into hours when connections are missed and alternatives are unclear, especially across the harbour. Penalties and improvements must reflect the full passenger experience.
South China Morning Post
6 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong's MTR Corp must tackle ‘inadequacies' in contingency planning: John Lee
Hong Kong's leader has criticised the MTR Corporation's 'inadequacies' in emergency responses and contingency planning following several recent blunders, including a five-hour suspension in rail services on the Tseung Kwan O line last week Speaking to the media before a meeting with the key decision-making Executive Council on Tuesday, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu also laid down for areas that the rail giant needed to improve on, following its third disruption in four months caused by technical failure. The rail giant, which is nearly 75 per cent owned by the government, was slapped with a HK$19.2 million (US$2.4 million) fine on Monday, which was equivalent to a day of half-price fares that would be rebated to passengers. But Lee said the corporation needed to do more to prevent such incidents in the future. '[Last Thursday's] incident, together with two other incidents that happened this year, reflects that there are inadequacies in the emergency response and contingency planning of the MTR Corporation,' he said. 'Prevention is better than rectification, so [the] MTR Corporation has to comprehensively work in those directions,' he said.
