The Government has reviewed an investigation report by the Airport Authority (AAHK) regarding an incident in November last year involving the Automated People Mover system (APM) at Hong Kong International Airport.

On November 21, 2023, a young passenger using the APM system was suspected to have stepped into a gap between a platform and a train.

With regard to system safety, the authority’s investigation did not find any systematic safety issues with the APM system.

Infrared devices are installed at the platform screen doors (PSDs) and train doors, such that when a device detects that a passenger or obstacle has been trapped between a PSD and a train door, the system will instruct the PSDs and the train doors to remain open.

The AAHK also completed a project in June this year to narrow the gap between platforms and trains, thereby serving to prevent passengers from stepping into the platform gap.

The Electrical & Mechanical Services Department has confirmed that the APM system is safe in its design and operation.

In relation to notification of incidents, the AAHK will give notice to the Government of any incident in which a person falls between a train and a platform, in accordance with the relevant regulations.

The AAHK conducted a thorough and in-depth investigation into the incident and found no evidence of a cover-up by any staff. It admitted that the scope of its first investigation, conducted early this year, was not thorough enough.

The AAHK's investigation found that after the young passenger stepped into the gap between the platform and the train, other passengers immediately pulled her out of it. As the train doors were closed, as scheduled, no system alert was triggered. The AAHK did not receive any complaint or injury report filed by the passenger or her family at that time.

That said, the AAHK admitted that there was lack of clarity in the APM Operation & Emergency Procedure Manual, and a lack of alertness in reporting and communication among frontline staff, resulting in the incident not being properly recorded at that time.

As a result, AAHK staff failed to identify the incident in time and report it to the Government.

The Government noted that the AAHK has already taken disciplinary actions against the relevant staff. It requested that the authority implement improvement measures to prevent similar incidents from occurring again.

It also noted that the AAHK has enhanced its incident investigation mechanism and has been implementing two other improvement measures.

One of these involves finishing updates to the APM manual and arranging relevant training next month to strengthen the incident notification mechanism. The other involves completing the enhancement of the CCTV system on platforms by March next year.