HONG KONG — Embattled rail operator MTR Corp has been slapped with a HK$35 million (S$6 million) penalty for service breakdowns during two incidents earlier this month, according to a senior official.

MTR operations director Adi Lau Tin-shing said at a Legislative Council meeting on Friday (March 29) that the company would be fined a record HK$25 million for the city’s first MTR crash on March 18, which caused an unprecedented suspension of service between two of its busiest stations, Admiralty and Central, for 48 hours.

It would also be given a HK$10 million penalty for the overnight suspension of the Tung Chung Line and express rail services from Central to the airport on March 24 due to a mechanic fault on the overhead power cable for a train at Sunny Bay station, he said.

As a goodwill gesture for the service breakdown at Admiralty and Central, Mr Lau said, adult tickets would be sold for 50 per cent off from May 11 to May 13.

“We will offer the special fare concessions to passengers. We estimate more than 13 million passengers will benefit,” he said.

Under the Service Performance Arrangement, the rail operator can be fined for any disruptions lasting 31 minutes or more, and the maximum fine for each incident is capped at HK$25 million. This represents roughly 70 per cent of the rail operator's HK$36.2 million daily revenue from MTR train services.

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The fine follows an HK$8 million penalty for service delays in October, after a simultaneous breakdown of four MTR lines caused by the incompatibility of two signalling systems.

Two trains collided on March 18 at a crossover junction near Central station during an overnight trial of the new HK$3.3 billion signalling system meant for seven rail lines. One carriage was derailed, injuring a driver, but no passengers were on board.

In a statement released on March 27, the MTR Corp said it had set up an investigation panel to identify the causes of the incident, and make recommendations to prevent it happening again.

The corporation earlier said the crash occurred during tests that simulated a switch to the second backup system, in a scenario where the main system and the first backup system had both failed.

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In the paper, it also revealed that a fail-safe interlocking function in the second backup system also failed to stop the trains as required during the signal failure.

MTR bosses earlier suggested the crash was caused by an “unacceptable” software flaw in the new signalling system, resulting in the trains being assigned the same crossing.

The panel, jointly chaired by Mr Lau and engineering director Peter Ewen, comprised another seven senior members from the rail firm. Four external experts from Hong Kong and overseas had been appointed to provide professional advice during the investigation.

“The corporation takes the incident very seriously,” Mr Lincoln Leong, the rail operator’s outgoing CEO, said. “We apologise once again to the passengers affected by the service disruption and would like to thank them for their understanding and cooperation.

“We also appreciate the assistance rendered by relevant government departments during the handling and recovery of the incident.”

MTR Corp said the panel would conduct a thorough review of different aspects of the incident, including the circumstances surrounding it and the related design of the new signalling system, for which French multinational Thales supplied the software.

The corporation is expected to tell the government the results of its investigation in three months. SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST