Govt Learned Of MTR Problems Only On Thursday

The government said on Saturday that it only learnt that issues have arisen with MTR's new signalling system for the East Rail Line on Thursday, one day before the rail firm went public with the issue.

The MTR announced on Friday that the system was being postponed, a day before it was due to go online.

The rail operator said the system's settings problems could potentially route trains into the wrong tracks, raising the possibility that two trains could be diverted to the same station.

The company had said the issue involves the Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau Stations and did not reveal how it found out about the problem.

But the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department in a reply to RTHK said that the signalling problem also applies to Fo Tan and Racecourse Stations, and trains could end up wrongly following trains into the wrong station.

It said "abnormal situations" had occurred during testing of the system, which has been ongoing since April ... although trains had never gone into wrong station during testing.

The department said it's asked the MTR to submit a report and do further inspections and tests. It said the new signalling system can only go online only after authorities ensure that it is safe.