MTR Precautions Going Too Far, Says Michael Tien

Roundtable lawmaker Michael Tien says it's unreasonable for train services to end early when there have been no further acts of vandalism late at night.

For almost three weeks, the MTR Corporation has closed stations a few hours ahead of schedule, saying damaged facilities need repair. Services will again end at 10pm today.

On Monday, Yuen Long Station was closed at 2pm because of plans for an anti-government protest there.

Tien, a former chairman of Legco's railways subcommittee, says it's okay to close a single station if there's potential for conflict, but not to close down entire lines.

"Unless a station is totally inoperable, otherwise they can still have partial movement. You know with all the gates open at some stations after 10pm, you can have some gates working and some not," he said

"So the idea of closing down the entire line at 10 every night regardless of the fact that there is almost no vandalism happening in the MTR stations in the evening, I think this is unreasonable."

Tien was also a chairman of the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation.