MTR Suspends All Trials Of New Signalling System

The MTR Corporation says it will immediately suspend trials of a new signalling system until it finds out what caused a train derailment on Monday.

A train heading to Central Station derailed during a test run at around 3am and hit the third and fourth compartment of a train going in the opposite direction towards Tsuen Wan.

Services between Central and Admiralty on the Tsuen Wan Line were cancelled for the day as a result. Pictures released by the rail operator showed badly damaged carriages.

The railway company’s operations director, Adi Lau, said this was the first accident of its kind since the line opened almost four decades ago.

Lau said the company will make enquiries with its contractor, adding that it will also investigate why a safety system was not activated to stop the trains.

The MTR had originally planned to start using the new system alongside the old one in the second half of this year, before eventually replacing the old one altogether.