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.
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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.
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“Prevention is better than rectification, so [the] MTR Corporation has to comprehensively work in those directions,” he said.