**************************************************
Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation ("KCRC") yesterday (January 11) presented to its Managing Board about the possible need to strengthen the mounting of equipment located underneath the East Rail trains. In this connection, a spokesman for the Environment, Transport and Works Bureau said that the Government is very concerned about the incident.
The Hong Kong Railway Inspectorate received a verbal notification from KCRC on December 21, 2005 that at Fo Tan Station a train driver found the compressor mounted underneath the train appeared to be loosened. The passengers were required to take another train. Since then, the Government has not received any report from KCRC that there are similar problem for other East Rail trains.
In the afternoon of January 10, 2006, KCRC informed the Hong Kong Railway Inspectorate that the mounting of equipment located underneath the other East Rail trains might similarly need to be strengthened.
In this regard, the Government found that KCRC had not immediately notified the Government of the problem related to the other East Rail trains and has issued a warning letter yesterday (January 11) to KCRC to strongly condemn the Corporation for mishandling the case, and has warned the Corporation that it should promptly notify the Government of any problem or incident relating to the railways in future according to the KCRC Regulations.
Upon learning of the incident yesterday, the Government was gravely concerned about it. To ensure safe operation of the railway, the Government has yesterday (11 January 2006) set up a designated expert team comprising the Railway Inspectorate Section and relevant Government departments to inspect the East Rail trains concerned.
For this incident, the Government noted that KCRC had implemented specific improvement measures to strengthen the mounting of equipment located underneath the trains. These improvement measures have been verified by the train builder and local independent experts. The experts are of the view that these measures could effectively minimise the mounting problem of the equipment and could ensure the continued provision of a safe railway service.
The Government's initial assessment is that we concur with the assessment of the independent experts appointed by KCRC that with the mounting of equipment strengthened, the railway service has not posed immediate danger to passengers. However, the Government has already demanded KCRC to step up the necessary maintenance works. The Government has also demanded KCRC to comprehensively review the existing conditions of the trains and railway maintenance regime, and to submit a report to Government as soon as possible.
Ends/Thursday, January 12, 2006
Issued at HKT 01:06
NNNN