MTR operations director admits half of city’s trains not fitted with CCTV, as company forms investigation panel into handling of incident
In the aftermath of Friday’s shocking firebomb attack that left 19 people injured, it has emerged that about half of Hong Kong’s MTR trains are not fitted with CCTV cameras, prompting the chairman of the government’s transport panel to call for a full review of surveillance measures on the system. Following the incident at Tsim Sha Tsui station, MTR operations director Adi Lau Tin-shing on Saturday said CCTV cameras were not installed on the train involved, nor on trains that came into service before 2004. Transport minister Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung said the MTR Corporation had formed an investigation panel to study how the blaze was handled and possible improvement measures. “New batches of CCTV-equipped trains would arrive and be ready for service in 2018 at the earliest,” Lau said. An initial report would be submitted to the government in about a month. Lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun, chairman of the Legislative Council’s transport panel, urged the MTR, which caters for some 5 million commuter journeys each day, to install CCTV cameras on all trains and review its surveillance systems immediately.
