Hundreds Stranded As East Rail Services Crippled

Hundreds of people were left waiting for shuttle buses for hours after a locomotive broke down at University station, affecting East Rail services.

Services between Fo Tan and Tai Po Market stations were disrupted from early morning on Thursday as a locomotive that had been pulling an engineering vehicle became stuck on the rail line.

At about 5.40am, the MTR Corporation announced that services between Hung Hom and Fo Tan would run every five minutes while trains between Tai Po Market and Lo Wu would operate every six minutes, with services to Lok Ma Chau at 12-minute intervals.

The rail operator arranged a free MTR minibus to take passengers from Fo Tan to Tai Po Market and back, while a minibus services was to connect Sha Tin and Tai Po Market.

However passengers were also being advised to use other modes of transport where possible.

But by 10.30am, hundreds of people were still waiting for shuttle buses from Tai Po Market to Shatin.

One passenger told RTHK that he had been waiting for a shuttle bus for more than an hour, but was still a long way back in the queue.

He said the queue went all the way to Tai Po Hui market, which is several hundreds metres away. But he said he understands the situation.

But one angry passenger said she has been waiting for over an hour for the bus, and complained of lack of clear directions from MTR. Some people were seen jumping the queue also, she said.

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