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Following is a question by the Hon Andrew Wong and a reply by the Secretary for Transport, Mr Nicholas Ng, in the Legislative Council today (May 17):

Question : Regarding improvements to train services, will the Government inform this Council whether it will request the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation to:

(a) install retrofitting platform screen doors at railway stations to enhance passenger safety;

(b) install air-conditioning systems on railway platforms to provide passengers with a more comfortable environment while waiting for trains in summer; and

(c) construct roof covers above the rails between platforms so that passengers need not open their umbrellas while boarding and getting off the train on rainy days?

Reply:

Madam President,

Although Platform Screen Doors (PSDs) could enhance passenger safety, it is not a pre-requisite for safe railway operation. Upon our request, the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) has undertaken a consultancy study on installing PSDs to the East Rail. The KCRC's consultancy study has identified a series of technical and operational difficulties in retrofitting PSDs to the East Rail, including the following -

(a) Nine of the 13 East Rail stations have curved platform edges, which means wider gaps of variable widths between trains and platform edges. Retrofitting PSDs may obscure such gaps from sight and increase the risk of passengers falling into such gaps.

(b) East Rail trains are driven manually under the current signalling system, and there will be problems with synchronising the train doors and PSDs accurately when the trains arrive at the station platform, hence affecting operational efficiency of the railway system.

(c) Retrofitting PSDs involves substantial alterations to the stations and will have considerable impact on the platform operation, even if works are only carried out during the night time.

(d) East Rail stations are on open ground and hence there will not be any benefits of energy savings in terms of air-conditioning, which could offset some of the costs involved in retrofitting PSDs.

The KCRC's existing station platform management schemes and crowd control measures on station platform have a very good safety record and the Corporation does not consider it cost effective to retrofit PSDs to the East Rail.

At present, air-conditioning is provided to the queuing area on the Lo Wu station platform to cater for cross-boundary passengers because these passengers have to queue for some time before they enter the terminal building. Retrofitting air-conditioning to other East Rail station platforms which are all on open ground will involve turning the station platforms into a fully-enclosed structure. Given the East Rail currently runs a train frequency of between 3 minutes and 5 minutes, the Corporation does not consider the short passenger waiting time on station platform justifies the substantial capital and recurrent resources in retrofitting air-conditioning to existing East Rail station platforms.

At present, the platforms of four East Rail stations have roof-covers which form either part of the station building (e.g. Hung Hom station) or property development (e.g. Mong Kok). Other East Rail stations are installed with platform awnings which only leave a distance of about 0.9 metres between the awnings and the train cars. While the awnings could physically be extended to bridge this gap, this would narrow the distance between the edge of the extended awnings and the overhead power lines to less than the minimum clearance of 2.75 metres. Alternatively, providing new roof cover well above the overhead power lines would involve substantial modification of station structures, and therefore great disruption and inconvenience to passengers. For safety and cost reasons, therefore, the Corporation cannot give these in situ improvements a high priority.

End/Wednesday, May 17, 2000

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