Double trouble blamed for MTR disruption

Staff reporter

A water pipe burst and a water pump malfunction, which happened simultaneously, caused the service suspension of MTR's Tseung Kwan O Line for over an hour yesterday, a lawmaker claimed.

Service on the Tseung Kwan O Line was disrupted at around 2pm for 75 minutes, as the rail operator said rail tracks were flooded near the Quarry Bay Station.

It led to service suspension between North Point and Tiu Keng Leng stations.

MTR staff members were deployed immediately to deal with the incident and eventually cleared the water near Station at 3.15pm and Tseung Kwan O Line resumed service.

A photo obtained by New Prospect for Hong Kong lawmaker Gary Zhang Xinyu, which was taken in the tunnel near Quarry Bay Station, showed a section of the rail tracks fully submerged in water. Zhang said it is not rare to see flooding in MTR tunnels, and according to the MTR protocol, services have to be suspended in such a situation.

"The water seen in the picture does not look like seawater, which leaked in due to tunnel damage. I suspect the water coming from a water pipe burst, possibly a fire hose, while the water pump also malfunctioned at the same time," Zhang explained.

"Service is suspended out of safety concerns, as no one knows whether or not there will be objects floating on the water that submerge the train tracks. It could be dangerous if services remained normal," he added.

Zhang also said if a situation is serious, MTR workers would need around an hour to deal with the problem, including turning on the water valve of the burst pipe.

During the service suspension, Citybus said it increased the frequency of multiple bus routes running between Hong Kong Island, Kowloon East and Tseung Kwan O. These included routes 601 - running between Admiralty and Po Tat in Kwun Tong; 608 - serving Kowloon City and Shau Kei Wan; 619 - that runs between Central and Shun Lee Estate in Sau Mau Ping; and 694 - running between Tiu Keng Leng and Siu Sai Wan.

It said it had been monitoring the situation and deployed resources to meet passengers' demand.