CHINA: MTR Corp has announced a HK$65bn five-point plan to enhance Hong Kong rail asset management, maintenance and renewals over the next five years.
This follows a review commissioned by the board in response to the failures of a metallic protection barrier at Yau Ma Tei and an energy absorption device inside a train coupler at Tseung Kwan O in 2022.
An expert panel chaired by former President of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers Edmund Leung and supported by consultancy Systra found that MTR Corp’s current asset management offers a good foundation, with Hong Kong being one of the few metros to achieve more than 99·9% in both the passenger-on-time and train-on-time measures in the COMET international metro benchmarks.
In response to the panel’s recommendations for achieving higher standards, MTR Corp has set out five action areas:
- spending more than HK$65bn on railway asset renewal and maintenance in the next five years;
- accelerating the application of innovation and technology in railway services and asset maintenance, including the launch of a digitised asset management system and setting up a joint laboratory with the Hong Kong Applied Science & Technology Research Institute;
- enhancing risk anticipation and management to enable the early detection of abnormal conditions and minimise incidents of high consequence, including the use of big data and comprehensive analytical tools;
- initiatives to gain extra working time in the maintenance window during non-traffic hours;
- addressing human resources challenges and fostering staff awareness on asset and risk management.
‘The expert panel conducted a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of MTR’s railway asset management, providing valuable suggestions’, said Jeny Yeung, MTR Corp’s Hong Kong Transport Services Director, on June 21.
