HK train crash sees commute chaos

Rail disaster: The two MTR trains after a collision on the Tsuen Wan Line during a test of the company

HONG KONG: A train collision disrupted services in Hong Kong, threatening commuter chaos during rush hour in the heart of the Asian financial hub, authorities said.

Yesterday’s rare disruption on a network used by nearly six million people every weekday brought services to a halt between the stations of Central and Admiralty, rail operator MTR Corp said.

“The repair will take quite a long time and the service between Cen­tral and Admiralty ... will not be available for the whole day,” its operations director Lau Tin-shing told a news briefing.

An investigation into the incident has already begun, although the trains carried no passengers when the crash happened.

At the time of the collision, a new signal system was undergoing a trial run.

The drivers of both trains were taken to hospital, the network ope­rator said, urging commuters to use other forms of travel or different rail routes.

Shares of MTR fell more than one per cent in early trade, lagging a gain of 0.3% in the benchmark index. — AP