“There was a time hole earlier than the operations management centre managed to halt any site visitors contained in the tunnel. Because of this some trains of the Kwun Tong line had handed alongside the tunnel,” he mentioned.
“We apologise for placing the passengers by way of this form of expertise. This example was completely undesirable.”
Lee’s admission seemed to be a climbdown from the corporate’s earlier stance. The MTR Corp had earlier defended the evacuation preparations, with working and metro phase chief Sammy Wong Kwan-wai saying the emergency exit was designed to permit travellers to go away carriages safely below pressing circumstances.
The corporate had beforehand refused to clarify whether or not employees had been deployed to the tunnel.
Lee mentioned the management centre’s unique intention was to rearrange for passengers to return to the Yau Ma Tei station platform utilizing the carriage doorways with the assistance of employees.
However he mentioned “inadequacies” of their broadcast messages had failed to point clearly the evacuation preparations to passengers, leading to some individuals getting off the prepare by pushing open the emergency exit and strolling in the direction of Mong Kok station.
There’s a part between the 2 stations the place the Tsuen Wan and Kwun Tong strains overlap.
Lee’s apology got here after the rail big submitted an interim report on the incident to Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung, protecting the preliminary reason for the derailment, its follow-up motion and the way the agency dealt with the general state of affairs. It is because of submit a full investigative report in two months.
The agency has arrange an investigation fee comprising native and abroad specialists to look into the incident.
He mentioned the preliminary investigation discovered the derailment occurred after a displaced metallic fence, seven metres lengthy and a pair of.4 metres excessive situated by the aspect of the tracks, induced the entrance carriage to veer off the rails because the prepare pulled into Yau Ma Tei station.
“As to why this metallic fence was displaced and ended up crashing the prepare, we are going to conduct an in-depth investigation into totally different points comparable to the upkeep of its parts, its unique design intent and its tear and put on,” Lee mentioned, including that the corporate had checked 30 such fences, used to guard services together with the air flow system, alongside its tracks.
An insider mentioned rail employees at current performed checks on the metallic fence by sight on alternate days below the corporate’s directions.
“The MTR Corp doesn’t request the employees to examine the metallic fence with any tools in order that they conduct the checks with bodily detection solely. However the fence is giant in measurement and it will likely be simply detected if it has loosened,” the supply mentioned.
Lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun, former chairman of the Kowloon-Canton Railway Company, expressed shock over the shortage of an emergency protocol to mechanically halt site visitors in circumstances the place a prepare had received caught in a tunnel.
“This fiasco was actually severe. I used to be shocked to listen to the operations management centre needed to be alerted by the prepare driver earlier than it may halt the tunnel site visitors. What would occur if the driving force misplaced consciousness?” he mentioned.
“There needs to be a protocol in place to make sure that as soon as a prepare will get caught contained in the tunnel, all of the close by site visitors will mechanically be halted to make sure passengers’ security.”
Legislator Gary Zhang Xinyu, an engineer who served as operations supervisor on the MTR Corp, mentioned the actual fact passengers left the prepare unnoticed on the rear confirmed there needs to be an impartial alert system for the emergency exits because the common one had been knocked out within the crash.
He mentioned the potential dangers going through the passengers strolling on the tracks may have been averted if the prepare operator had been alerted instantly concerning the state of affairs and initiated the protection response together with stopping site visitors alongside the road and turning on tunnel lighting.
In keeping with what he had discovered, the published from the prepare operator through the incident instructed passengers to attend on the rear for additional directions from station personnel to assist depart the prepare by way of the platform at Yau Ma Tei station, however he mentioned he believed a few of them may need opened the emergency doorways and left earlier than employees arrived.
In an announcement on Wednesday night time, a spokesman for the Transport and Logistics Bureau mentioned it had obtained the preliminary report on Wednesday and the agency needed to submit an in depth one inside two months.
“The preliminary report gave an account of the incident, preliminary findings on its trigger, and MTR Corp’s quick incident dealing with and future follow-up work,” the spokesman mentioned, including related authorities departments would participate within the investigation.
“The bureau has requested the MTR Corp to assessment the related preparations instantly to make sure correct dealing with of incidents and defend passenger security.”
The Electrical and Mechanical Providers Division mentioned it will fee impartial specialists to advise on enchancment measures, tools situation evaluation and upkeep plans to make sure acceptable upkeep measures and secure railway operations.
Further reporting by Fiona Solar and Danny Mok