How can Hong Kong’s MTR Corp get back on track amid funding, manpower woes?

Hong Kong leader John Lee Ka-chiu was stern-faced and did not mince his words as he took the MTR Corporation to task for “inadequacies” in the way it responded to emergencies and planned for disruptions.

He spelled out what he expected of the city’s rail operator when he spoke on May 27, five days after the third service disruption in four months due to technical failures.

He demanded action to prevent incidents, which could affect thousands of the rail system’s 5 million daily riders. But if such incidents still happened, it had to do better in responding and minimising inconvenience to commuters.

The most recent five-hour breakdown on May 22 affected the entire Tseung Kwan O line during the evening rush hour, leaving tens of thousands of people scrambling to find their way home.

Lee told the MTR Corp to carry out a comprehensive review of the entire rail network, strengthen its emergency response and contingency handling capabilities, and improve alternative transport arrangements for commuters when services were suspended.

Experts and observers welcomed the dressing down by the city leader, but also highlighted a number of issues the rail operator had to grapple with, not least its daunting funding challenges and a persistent shortage of skilled technical staff.

Despite a near-perfect punctuality rate of 99.9 per cent and a net profit of HK$15.8 billion (US$2 billion) last year, the MTR Corp has been plagued by a series of management crises and safety incidents since 2018.