MTR projects up for tender again
The chairman of the MTR Corporation on Wednesday said the railway giant had been successful in its recent property sales with the market picking up, adding the Tung Chung East project would be tendered again, after the rail firm failed to receive any bids last year. Rex Auyeung and Jacob Kam, the firm’s CEO, were speaking to reporters ahead of the company's annual general meeting. "The Tung Chung East Station development project will be tendered again in the next 12 months. As for the Siu Ho Wan Depot Site project, we are carrying out preliminary work and we will announce tender details when we are ready," said Auyeung. Meanwhile, Kam said last year's station flooding was due to the impact of flash flooding, not maintenance problems, adding the recently installed flood sensors at 26 stations would now allow for a prompt response by staff.  He said the railway operator had put measures in place for dealing with the upcoming typhoon season to ensure the safety of its staff and passengers. "During typhoon [signal] No. 9 or above, all train services on the open sections will be suspended. Now, if there are still trains out there running on the open sections during the transition from typhoon 8 to typhoon 9 or above, we will of course try to continue those services already on the open sections to the original destination, or at least to the nearest stations with enough space to let the passengers off the trains so that they can stay in a safe place until the weather improves," he said.  "To do that, we have actually in place our train crew, our maintenance staff, and our station staff to be prepared for that." As for plans by Shenzhen authorities to redevelop the control point at Lo Wu to allow for smoother connectivity between the two locations, Kam said the two sides were still discussing the details and the MTR would cooperate when a decision had been made.