Records Of Hung Hom Inspections Don't Exist: MTR

The MTR Corporation admitted on Wednesday that its inspectors repeatedly found that a contractor tried to cover up shoddy work at Hung Hom station, without bothering to document the irregularities.

The revelation came as the rail firm appointed an independent expert to conduct safety tests at the station, following media reports that steel bars used to secure a platform floor there were cut short to hide the fact they had not been fitted properly.

At a media briefing, the MTR Corporation’s projects director Philco Wong said while inspectors did document this particular infraction because it involved the cutting of at least five steel bars; four other inspections undertaken at around the same time – between August and December 2015 – found similar problems.

However, Wong said the inspectors didn’t put down any details on paper because they were not deemed to be ‘serious’ infractions.

As a result, the MTR still doesn’t know exactly how many of the 26,000 steel bars used at the site have been cut short.

Nonetheless, MTR Chief Executive Officer Lincoln Leung said that the contractor, Leighton Contractors (Asia), had fixed all the issues with the problematic steel frames before they were concreted over.

He said all of these structures were inspected, and three experts were required to verify that the work was properly done before the concreting stage.

Leung added that it is ultimately the contractor's responsibility to ensure that all construction works proceed properly.

Philco Wong also defended the MTR’s decision not to document the other instances when steel bars were cut short. He explained that numerous problems are found during all inspections, and staff have to decide which ones are serious enough to formally put down on paper.

The railway giant stressed it will report to the police if it suspects unlawful behaviour, but admitted it has so far been unable to identify the workers involved in the shoddy works.

Its chairman, Frederick Ma, says the company will submit an investigation report to the government at the end of next week, and has hired an independent expert, Wong Chi-ming, to conduct loading tests at the site.

“Safety has all along been of paramount importance to MTR. I always emphasize the importance of transparency on issues of public concern, including details in the works sequence, reporting mechanism and safety, and we must give [a]clear picture to the public”, Ma said.

Some experts have warned that the corner-cutting could be disastrous, and the MTR has been roundly criticised for not giving enough information about the construction problems at the Shatin-to-Central link.

Ma had himself come under fire for saying last week that it was pointless to give more technical details about the railway's problems to the public because they wouldn't understand anyway, and that "if the MTR says it's ok, then it's fine." Ma later explained that he may have been a bit brusque on account of the hot weather that day, or perhaps because he'd skipped his morning prayers.

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