HK trains collide for the first time ever

HONG KONG (March 18): For the first time in almost four decades, two subway trains in Hong Kong collided. The accident happened at around 3am today during a trial run, when it was closed to the public.

A train heading to Central station derailed and hit the third and fourth compartment of another train from the opposite direction going towards Tsuen Wan.

One driver injured a leg while another was reportedly treated for smoke inhalation, according to the Straits Times today.

The crash was said to be caused by a signalling fault linked to a software glitch for its new system, which was supposed to be used alongside the old one in the second half of the year, before eventually replacing it.

Following the incident, Hong Kong’s rail operator, MTR Corporation said it would immediately halt testings of the new system until the cause of the derailment was verified. 

Photos of the incident showed damaged train cabins with doors unhinged. Smashed glass pieces were scattered across the cabin floor. Several off-track carriages were tilted on their sides.

In a media briefing, MTR’s operations director, Adi Lau, apologised for the inconvenience caused to commuters as the train services on the Tsuen Wan line were suspended today. He said the incident was the first of its kind since the line opened almost forty years ago. 

“We have already contacted our contractors ... and we have demanded an urgent meeting to be held this afternoon to understand more about the testing and also the incident. We are also setting up an expert panel to look into the issues and investigate the cause (of the collision),” he stressed.

Lau also assured the public the new signalling system would only be implemented after it passed all tests.

The South China Morning Post quoted Hong Kong Federation of Railway Trade Unions chairman Lam Wai-keung as saying that the faulty signalling system was the SelTrac, developed by French company Thales.

Seltrac was also installed on Singapore’s East-West MRT line. Alternatively called communications-based train control (CBTC), it was blamed for a collision between two trains on the line’s Joo Koon station, injuring 38 commuters, in Nov 2017.

Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) said a “software logic issue” caused a communication breakdown between equipment on board the train and trackside. Thales accepted full responsibility for the accident, and told LTA it was fixing the issue.