Hong Kong may drop plan to use hydrogen-powered light rail trains: lawmakers
MTR Corp faces double whammy of restrictive safety rules and need to adapt light rail platforms, pair of lawmakers say
Hong Kong may be forced to drop plans to use hydrogen-powered trains on its light rail system because of safety regulations and the need to “rebuild” all platforms, two legislators have warned.
Lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun, citing his sources, said on Sunday the MTR Corporation’s plans for the 36km (22 miles) of lines were in jeopardy in part due to incompatibility between the mainland China-made trains and current light rail platforms.
“The hydrogen-fuelled trains are low-floor trains. They are not compatible with the light rail platforms,” said Tien, a former chairman of the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation.
Another lawmaker, Gary Zhang Xinyu, called for the relaxation of a ban on the simultaneous operation of hydrogen-powered trains and traditional direct current electric ones on the line.
The pair were responding to the rail operator’s announcement on Saturday that it had completed a trial run with one of the trains. No passengers were involved in the tests.
The MTR Corp brought in a low-floor, hydrogen-powered train in June to conduct the trial run as part of a government plan to develop the use of greener energy sources to reach the city’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
