Hong Kong’s rail operator the MTR Corporation has gone and done it again, folks. Yes, you heard me right. They’ve only gone and commissioned an independent investigation into some faults that left those engineering trains stranded on the tracks. And get this, it led to not just one, but two rail disruptions in a span of three months on the same line. Can you believe it?
MTR chairman Rex Auyeung, bless his heart, came out on Wednesday and spilled the beans. He mentioned that the firm had gone ahead and hired an independent expert to take a deep dive into these incidents. Why, you ask? Well, turns out the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department wasn’t too pleased last month. They had some real grave concerns about these two engineering train-related incidents. I mean, can you blame them? Two incidents in three months is no joke. So, they decided to conduct a special audit of the rail giant’s maintenance capabilities. Ouch.
Now, about those incidents. Rex Auyeung, with a hint of regret in his voice, mentioned that he really hopes it won’t happen again. And you know what? He even went ahead and apologized to the poor passengers who were affected. What a stand-up guy, am I right? He mentioned, “We will conduct an independent investigation and we’ve invited an independent expert to review the overall operation of our engineering trains and see what improvements need to be made.” So, let’s cross our fingers and hope for the best, shall we?
Not really sure why this matters, but last month, an engineering train decided to act up near Fo Tan station on the East Rail line. It malfunctioned, causing more than six hours of service disruptions. And to add insult to injury, it tacked on an extra 10 to 15 minutes to travel times. Talk about a real inconvenience, huh? And if that wasn’t enough, back in February, another engineering train near Tai Wo station on the same line broke down. Can you believe it? More disruptions, more delays. According to the department, they’ve got some preliminary findings that suggest the incident in April was all due to an equipment fault. Apparently, it hindered the train’s lifting platform from descending. What a mess, right? Let’s hope they get their act together soon.
Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like these incidents are becoming a bit too frequent for comfort. It’s high time the MTR Corporation gets its act together and sorts out these issues once and for all. The passengers deserve better, don’t you think? Let’s hope this independent investigation sheds some light on what went wrong and what can be done to prevent such mishaps in the future. Fingers crossed.
