Hong Kong may be forced to drop plans to use hydrogen-powered trains on its light rail system because of safety regulations and the need to “rebuild” all platforms, two legislators have warned.
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Lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun, citing his sources, said on Sunday the MTR Corporation’s plans for the 36km (22 miles) of lines were in jeopardy in part due to incompatibility between the mainland China-made trains and current light rail platforms.
“The hydrogen-fuelled trains are low-floor trains. They are not compatible with the light rail platforms,” said Tien, a former chairman of the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation.
Another lawmaker, Gary Zhang Xinyu, called for the relaxation of a ban on the simultaneous operation of hydrogen-powered trains and traditional direct current electric ones on the line.
The pair were responding to the rail operator’s announcement on Saturday that it had completed a trial run with one of the trains. No passengers were involved in the tests.
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The MTR Corp brought in a low-floor, hydrogen-powered train in June to conduct the trial run as part of a government plan to develop the use of greener energy sources to reach the city’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.