Full railway services can be expected in a week or two if the MTR system sustains no further attacks or damage.

Secretary for Transport & Housing Frank Chan made the remarks today after attending a radio programme, saying that MTR staff need more time to repair the damage sustained by the system over the past few months.

“There are a lot of maintenance checks and safety monitoring of all the equipment and systems of such a vast railway network as in Hong Kong. The establishment or number of staff that we have is able to cope with normal day-to-day work, but as we envisage, because of the damage in the past few months, there are a lot of repairs, revamps and testing before the system can be fully recovered. Therefore, we need more time - hence less pressure - for the MTR staff to concentrate and do the necessary work.

“We are trying to resume it back to normal operation as soon as the entire system is back to normal. If everything remains normal, and if there are no further attacks or damage, then I would say that one or two weeks will possibly be the target.”