MTR : Teams Continue to Make Endeavours to Repair Damaged Facilities to Provide Train Service for the Public

PR061/19 8 October 2019

MTR Teams Continue to Make Endeavours to Repair Damaged Facilities

to Provide Train Service for the Public

Acts of malicious vandalism and arson by protestors targeting MTR stations escalated over the past long weekend including fires being set repeatedly. The MTR Corporation has conducted a review on the progress of the repair works and also a joint risk assessment with relevant government departments. Having regard to the safety of passengers and staff, the Corporation had no choice but to close 13 Heavy Rail stations from the start of traffic today (8 October). With the hard work of maintenance staff, repair works at individual stations have made progress and Po Lam and Tai Po Market stations were re-opened later today.

Over the last few months, as the number and intensity of attacks against railway stations and facilities has been increasing, MTR staff have been working with unremitting efforts to carry out repair works with the aim of providing safe and reliable railway service to the public. The tremendous efforts made by the staff are obvious for all to see.

However, a large number of stations were maliciously vandalised again over the past weekend and serious damages were done to extensive parts of the whole network. As a result, the MTR network was unable to provide services in the evening of 4 October and the whole day of 5 October. The Airport Express was only able to resume limited services in the afternoon of 5 October.

As of 7 October, some 1,200 entry/exit gates, about 800 ticket-issuing machines and add-value machines, about 900 CCTV cameras, about 40 elevators and about 70 roller shutters were maliciously damaged. The number of damaged facilities have increased significantly from the numbers we reported on 4 October. Due to the extensive damages done, despite the hard work of the maintenance staff, some of the stations and station facilities were unable to be put back into service due to the limited number of available spare parts.

In spite of the difficult circumstances, the Corporation is striving its best to provide service to passengers, while the maintenance team is making every effort to repair the damaged station facilities with the aim of reopening the stations which were forced to be closed due to serious damages to provide train service to the public as soon as possible. We thank passengers for their patience and understanding by queuing up in an orderly manner during the current special service arrangements. The Corporation condemns irresponsible and illegal acts of vandalism, arson and by-law contravention and will take suitable legal actions against these cases.

The MTR network carries nearly six million passenger journeys every day, and provide public transport service to members of the public for going to work, to school, to go about daily affairs like visiting the doctor or visiting family members. The Corporation asks everyone to

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treasure the public transport system of Hong Kong, be considerate, and do not vandalise railway facilities or contravene MTR by-laws.

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About MTR Corporation

Every day, MTR connects people and communities. As a recognised world-class operator of sustainable rail transport services, we are a leader in safety, reliability, customer service and efficiency.

MTR has extensive end-to-end railway expertise with more than 40 years of railway projects experience from design to planning and construction through to commissioning, maintenance and operations. Going beyond railway delivery and operation, MTR also creates and manages dynamic communities around its network through seamless integration of rail, commercial and property development.

With more than 40,000 dedicated staff*, MTR carries over 13 million passenger journeys worldwide every weekday in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Australia and the Mainland of China. MTR strives to grow and connect communities for a better future.

For more information about MTR Corporation, please visit www.mtr.com.hk.

*includes our subsidiaries and associates in Hong Kong and worldwide

Appendix

Photo Captions:

As a result of the damaged station facilities, passengers had to wait for a longer time to take the MTR.

Kwun Tong Line - Ngau Tau Kok Station

Kwun Tong Line - Lam Tin Station

East Rail Line - Mong Kok East Station

Light Rail Tin Yat Stop

From 4 to 7 October, a large number of MTR Heavy Rail stations and Light Rail stops were being seriously vandalised to varying degrees.

Tsuen Wan Line - Tsuen Wan Station