Suicides send some MTR services off the rails

East Rail service was disrupted for at least two hours yesterday after a man and a woman jumped into the paths of trains at Fan Ling and Kowloon Tong stations.

The woman, who was estimated to be in her 20s or 30s, was rushed to Kwong Wah Hospital in a critical condition after falling onto the rail track at Kowloon Tong at 3.45 pm. She was pronounced dead later.

Hundreds of passengers, including travelers to the mainland, were hit when services between Mong Kok East and Tai Wai were suspended. They resumed at 4.48 pm.

Services from Admiralty to Mong Kok East ran at eight-minute intervals, while those between Tai Wai and Lo Wu or Lok Ma Chau were even more protracted at 15 minutes.

Free shuttle bus services were arranged between Kowloon Tong and Sha Tin stations.

The man who died after jumping onto rail tracks in Fan Ling at 12.45 pm disrupted East Rail services between Tai Wo and Sheung Shui for more than an hour. No suicide note was found at the scene.

The 67-year-old, Wong, was struck by an Admiralty-bound train.

Train services between Tai Wo and Sheung Shui were restored at 1.52 pm after being suspended for an hour.

Free shuttle bus services operated between Tai Po Market and Sheung Shui stations.

There has been a recent spate of similar incidents.

A 20-year-old jumped to his death in a suicide motivated by family problems at Tai Wai station on October 19.

Platform gates are currently only installed at Racecourse and Tai Po Market stations on the East Rail line.

"The installment of platform gates has been delayed for many years," said Ben Chan Han-pan, who heads the Legislative Council transport panel.

"Platform gates installation for Lok Ma Chau, Sheung Shui, Sha Tin and Tai Wai stations will start in 2024, while the whole installation project is expected to be completed by the end of 2025," according to a MTR's reply to The Standard.