MTR Lines Reopen After Hours Of Emergency Repairs

MTR officials said services gradually started to return to normal on the Tung Chung Line and the Airport Express from around 10am on Sunday after several hours of disruption.

The Airport Express had been shut down completely and trains on the Tung Chung Line were only running between Hong Kong and Sunny Bay – and at 10 minute intervals.

The railway company said the disruption was down to a problem with overhead line equipment near Sunny Bay Station, which was first reported before services closed down on Saturday night.

Around 60 people had to be evacuated from a train at Sunny Bay Station after a pantograph fell onto its roof. One passenger on board said the lights flickered and went out before the train slowed and stopped in the station. No injuries were reported.

Tony Lee, the MTR's engineering operations chief, explained what had caused the problem. "There was a loose component of the overhead line and that component actually caused damage to the pantograph and thereafter, the pantograph also ... caused damage to the subsequent line on the way to Sunny Bay."

He added that an eight kilometre stretch of line was affected.

The damage hadn't been repaired by the time the network opened up again on Sunday morning and transport officials urged people heading to the airport to allow extra time for their journeys.

Free shuttle buses were laid on for airport users, while some Tung Chung residents caught buses to Sunny Bay so they could get on the MTR there.

Drivers and taxi passengers said roads heading to the airport were more congested than usual.

The disruption came less than a week after two trains collided near Central MTR Station during an overnight signalling system test. The crash left part of the Tsuen Wan Line closed for two days.

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