Hong Kong legislators urge MTR Corp to speed up installation of screen gates after 2 suicides on East Rail line on Sunday

Hong Kong lawmakers, including a former railway chief, are urging the MTR Corporation to expedite the installation of platform screen doors. This comes in the wake of two suicides within a span of three hours on the East Rail line. Train services were disrupted after police received a report that a man had fallen onto the tracks at Fanling station. The 67-year-old man was found with multiple injuries and was later pronounced dead. The incident was classified as suicide. The MTR Corporation had previously announced in May that it aimed to complete the installation of screen barriers at the 35 platforms along the East Rail line by the end of 2025.

A police source stated that there appeared to be no suspicious circumstances surrounding the man's death and that officers were still trying to contact the man’s family for further investigation. Train services were disrupted for more than an hour, but resumed at 1. 52pm. In a separate incident, a 20-year-old woman fell onto the tracks at Kowloon Tong station. Despite efforts to resuscitate her, she was later certified dead at Kwong Wah Hospital. The death was also treated as a suicide. The rail operator arranged free shuttle buses for passengers between Kowloon Tong and Sha Tin stations via Tai Wai, before train services restarted at 4. 48pm.

The MTR Corporation announced in May that it aimed to finish the installation of automatic platform screen doors at the 35 platforms along the East Rail line, which includes almost 1,600 pairs of gates, by the end of 2025. The contract for the project is worth about HK$510 million (US$65. 2 million). However, legislator Michael Tien Puk-sun, a former chairman of the now-defunct Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, criticized the slow progress of the project. He demanded that the MTR Corporation publicly commit to installing platform screen doors in at least two or three stations simultaneously to ensure they are all put in place by the end of next year at the latest.