*************************************
Following is the transcript (English portion) of a standup briefing by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, on the receipt of KCRC﷿s investigation report on the root cause of the East Rail underframe equipment mounting problem and the appointment of a Review Panel on the Reporting of East Rail Incidents today (May 3):
Reporter: Who should be responsible for the incident?
Dr Liao: I think it is too early to say that. As I have said at the beginning, it is more important that now we have received the root cause report, we want to establish firmly that the cause has the basis of scientific support and that the remedial actions are effective. And then we will go into the responsibility and liability part of the research.
Reporter: How about the communication problem?
Dr Liao: We have also set up a Review Panel to look at the reporting issue and see whether the procedure and the process have any loopholes, and whether any improvement could be made and to look at the issue of responsibility accordingly.
Reporter: It has been months already since the incident﷿s happened...so far, who should be responsible for the incident? Do you think that will jeopardise the public﷿s confidence towards the company?
Dr Liao: I think it is important that we all understand the most important thing is the trains keep running safely and reliably. It is a very complicated problem which you should have got from the presentation just now. We do not think this would have jeopardised the confidence of the public on the railway, rather I think the public understand that to keep the trains running at a very efficient and reliable manner has been in the public interest. And also they have taken up the task with great responsibility. And we have to set priority as to what comes first. Now that we know the root cause, the rest would come.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Wednesday, May 3, 2006
Issued at HKT 18:59
NNNN
