Hong Kong MTR train services on Kwun Tong line disrupted due to power supply fault, a day after floods forced station shutdowns

Railway services on Hong Kong’s Kwun Tong line were disrupted again on Saturday morning due to a power supply fault just hours after its resumption in the wake of the city’s worst rainstorm in more than a century.

At 10am, the MTR Corporation said train services between Shek Kip Mei and Choi Hung had been suspended due to a power disruption caused by faulty overhead line equipment near Wong Tai Sin station, which was on Thursday night crippled by floods.

The services between Whampoa and Shek Kip Mei would run at five-minute intervals while those between Choi Hung and Tiu Keng Leng would be every eight minutes, the operator said.

Intense flooding shuts down Temple Mall in Wong Tai Sin and its adjoining MTR station. Photo: Edmond So

The disruption came 4½ hours after the rail operator announced plans to fully resume services on the Kwun Tong line and reopen the Wong Tai Sin facility.

At the height of the downpour on Thursday night which triggered the city’s longest black rainstorm warning, floods had hit multiple stations along the Kwun Tong line and even platforms at Wong Tai Sin.

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The MTR Corp first suspended services between Whampoa and Kwun Tong and later narrowed this to Shek Kip Mei and Choi Hung.

The rail giant earlier conceded it would take time to reinstate damaged facilities at Wong Tai Sin, with lifts and escalator services suspended and one of its exits, B3, closed.

The Transport Department on Saturday said all daytime bus services except six routes had resumed in the morning. These include route 9 and X9 between Shau Kei Wan and Shek O, with Shek O Road still closed.

Thousands of residents on the southern tip of Hong Kong Island have been isolated after two landslides damaged the only road leading into Shek O Village.

Meanwhile, passenger clearance services at the Liantang-Heung Yuen Wai border control point are also suspended.

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Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan on Saturday said public servants from various departments would be deployed citywide to back up the Home Affairs Department in helping residents recover from flood damage.

“More staff members will be mobilised this time than during Super Typhoon Saola,” Yeung told a radio show, referring to an earlier storm which triggered the highest No 10 warning signal.