****************************************************
Following is a question by the Hon Andrew Cheng and an oral reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, in the Legislative Council meeting today (January 18):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
츁a﷿the respective numbers of passengers, in each of the past three years, who fell onto the railway track from platforms of various railways operated by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation ("KCRC"), together with a breakdown by the causes of such incidents and resultant casualties;
츁b﷿whether KCRC has plans to retrofit screen doors at all railway platforms; if so, of the progress of such plans; if not, the reasons for that; and
츁c﷿whether, before completion of screen doors retrofitting works at all railway platforms, KCRC will consider setting a lower speed for trains entering stations but a higher train speed at other sections so that, while not affecting the frequency of trains, it may help mitigate the injuries caused by incoming trains to passengers who fall onto the railway track; if it will, of the speed limit it intends to set for trains entering stations; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
According to Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation ("KCRC"), so far there have been no incidents involving passengers falling onto rail track on West Rail and Ma On Shan since their respective opening. The number of such incidents happened on East Rail and Light Rail stations in the past three years is as follows:
For East Rail, there are 44 incidents involving passengers falling onto rail track in 2003. 35 of them involve trespassing, six are falling from platform accidentally, and three are suicide/attempted suicide. Amongst the 44 cases, there are two deaths and five injuries while 37 are unhurt. In 2004, there are 49 incidents involving passengers falling onto rail track. 38 of them involve trespassing, five are falling from platform accidentally, and six are suicide/attempted suicide. Amongst the 49 cases, there are five deaths and five injuries while 39 are unhurt. In 2005, there are 56 incidents involving passengers falling onto rail track. 45 of them involve trespassing, five are falling from platform accidentally, and six are suicide/attempted suicide. Amongst the 56 cases, there are four deaths and seven injuries while 45 are unhurt.
For Light Rail, there are two incidents involving passengers falling on to rail track in 2003. All of them are falling from platform accidentally and are unhurt. In 2004, there are four incidents involving passengers falling onto rail track. All of them are falling from platform accidentally and are unhurt. In 2005, there are six incidents involving passengers falling onto rail track. Five of them are falling from platform accidentally and 1 is suicide/attempted suicide. Amongst the six cases, there are three injuries while three are unhurt.
KCRC has been taking active steps to examine the feasibility of retrofitting automatic platform gates ("APGs") at platforms of East Rail and Ma On Shan Rail stations (except East Tsim Sha Tsui Station in which platform screen doors have been installed) with reference to the requirements and feasibilities of installing APGs in overseas railways (e.g. Japan, United States). According to KCRC's initial findings, it is technically feasible to retrofit APGs at platforms. Nonetheless, the potential safety problem caused by the relatively wide gap between platforms and trains at some East Rail stations with curved platforms has to be resolved in the first place. This issue is being examined by KCRC.
As regards the suggestion of setting a lower speed for trains entering stations so as to help mitigate the injuries caused by incoming trains to passengers who fall onto the railway track, KCRC explained that factors including the distance between stations, ambient environment of the railway sections and operation safety have been taken into account in designing the speed of East Rail trains. Operation safety would be compromised if the train speed for sections before entering stations were to be increased. In addition, KCRC said that the speed of East Rail trains in entering stations is safe and comparable to the design of other overseas railways, that is, trains would begin to decelerate before entering stations and come to a halt gradually. KCRC considered that if the train speed when entering stations were decreased, the journey time would be prolonged hence impact on the efficiency of railway service.
Passenger safety is always the priority in railway operations. KCRC has implemented the following arrangements and facilities to ensure passenger safety in its daily operations:
(1) deploy platform supervisors at each station to take care of passengers and ensure normal train operations;
(2) arrange Cantonese, Mandarin and English public announcements in platforms to remind passengers to stand behind the yellow line when trains are entering stations;
(3) deploy platform assistants to assist passengers during peak hours;
(4) install CCTVs in platforms to facilitate monitoring;
(5) install passenger help lines in platforms;
(6) install flashing lights, of which the colour will be changed regularly, at the edge of curved platforms to alert passengers to the gap between platform and train; and
(7) arrange passenger safety education activities regularly.
KCRC understands the public's concerns about platform safety and the retrofitting of screen doors thereat, and will expedite its efforts in examining the retrofitting of APGs. In addition, KCRC will continue to attach top priority to passenger safety and seek improvements to enhance the safety of railway operations.
Ends/Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Issued at HKT 14:50
NNNN
