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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.
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
05-05-2025
- South China Morning Post
Call for Hong Kong to fix border internet issues, protect rural areas
Boosting internet connectivity at border checkpoints and raising environmental awareness in rural areas are among the improvement measures suggested by observers based on lessons learned from this year's 'Labour Day' golden week holiday for Hong Kong authorities. Advertisement The recommendation comes after tourists struggled to generate QR code tickets for their trains due to an overloaded network, while littering issues were spotted in country parks packed with visitors during the five-day holiday. The MTR Corporation earlier stated that the mobile data and free Wi-fi at Lok Ma Chau station could not handle the high traffic on Friday, after social media posts showed tourists crowded in the station. Consequently, passengers faced significant delays in using their smartphones to generate QR codes from the various payment platforms. It said it had contacted its network provider to increase mobile data capacity and it had doubled its Wi-fi capacity. Advertisement Lawmaker Gary Zhang Xinyu, an engineer who previously served as a station services manager at the MTR Corp, said he was 'shocked' and 'embarrassed' by the situation, especially given the widespread use of digital payments.
South China Morning Post
03-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong's MTR Corp to boost internet capacity after ‘golden week' ticket chaos
Hong Kong rail giant the MTR Corporation has pledged to upgrade its internet capacity after scores of travellers, many of whom were mainland Chinese, were stuck at a border station struggling to generate their QR code tickets with an overloaded network during the Labour Day 'golden week' holiday. Advertisement Passengers at Lok Ma Chau station spent a relatively long time generating their QR code tickets during the rush hours on Friday, the second day of the five-day break, as the mobile data and free Wi-fi at the station could not cope with the huge traffic, according to the railway operator. 'During the peak outbound travel period in the evening, the station has intermittently adopted the arrangement of not requiring passengers to tap their cards to exit the gate between about 9.45pm and 10.30pm to ease the crowd,' the operator said on Saturday. The MTR Corp said it had already contacted its network provider to step up the mobile data capacity, adding it would also double its Wi-fi capacity. Passengers at Lok Ma Chau station spent a long time generating their QR code tickets on Friday. Photo: Facebook Pictures posted on social media showed that Lok Ma Chau station was fully packed with hundreds of travellers on Friday, with some sharing their frustration online. Advertisement 'I expected that there would be many people during the Labour Day holiday, but I did not anticipate the network shutdown. It felt like losing your phone and being unable to do anything,' a user said on the mainland social media platform, RedNote.
South China Morning Post
26-03-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong's MTR Corp raises US$3 billion from its largest bond issue
Hong Kong's MTR Corp has issued its largest public bond, raising US$3 billion from a three-tranche offering amid a hot credit market in Asia. Advertisement The railway operator's bond received a strong response from local and international institutional investors, who subscribed to US$13.4 billion in the book-building process, or 4.47 times the issue size. The pricing was tightened by 27 to 35 basis points from the initial price guidance. The five-year US$500 million tranche was priced at 4.375 per cent, the 10-year US$1 billion note at 4.875 per cent and the 30-year US$1.5 billion tranche at 5.25 per cent. The 30-year tranche was the largest US dollar note from a Hong Kong corporate issuer in more than two decades, MTR Corp said on Wednesday. 'The successful bond issuance highlights the confidence investors have in our operational capabilities and financial strength,' said Michael Fitzgerald, MTR Corp's finance director. The MTR's operation control centre in Tsing Yi. Photo: Elson Li The funds would support infrastructure development and asset replacement, he added. Advertisement The transaction set new benchmarks for issuers in Hong Kong and Asia, according to Rainy Lu, executive director of debt capital markets at UBS global banking. UBS was a joint global coordinator for the issue.
