Siemens "curse"? Count down 4 things involving Siemens since the two railways

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Written by: Huang Weilun

2020-09-13 19:35

Last update date: 2020-09-13 19:35

The East Rail Line was originally scheduled to switch to a new signal system yesterday (12th) to cope with the future extension of the sea. However, on the eve of the launch of the new system, the MTR announced a halt on the evening of September 10.

The contractor in charge of the new signal system is the German company Siemens. According to the information, Siemens has undertaken different projects between the two railways before the merger of the MTR and the two railways, but different problems have also emerged.

The most familiar one is the West Rail "Siemens Incident" in early 2000. At that time, Siemens fell behind in a project on the West Rail Line. Not only did it not claim compensation, but it received an "additional" of 100 million yuan from the KCRC.

West Rail Construction Project Detonated "Siemens Incident" Scandal

Siemens currently provides signalling services on certain MTR lines, including the Lam Tin to Tiu Keng Ling section of the Tseung Kwan O Line and Kwun Tong Line.

As early as the early 2000s, during the construction of the West Rail project of the KCRC, Siemens undertook the communication system contract for the train control center, but it was unable to deliver the goods as scheduled.

In 2002, the media revealed that the KCRC not only failed to claim compensation from Siemens in order to avoid the delay in the opening of the West Rail, but also "added" an additional 100 million yuan in subsidies to the other party. This was criticized for violating the spirit of the contract and setting a precedent.

Korean trains on the Tseung Kwan O Line did not adapt to Siemens systems

As for the current signal system service of the Tseung Kwan O Line, Siemens was also provided. The line was opened to traffic in 2002. The MTR Corporation opened the Tseung Kwan O Line to traffic in 1998 and purchased a batch of new trains made in Korea. However, the new trains failed to adapt to the Siemens signal system at the initial stage. First transferred to the Kwun Tong line, until 2010, that is, 8 years after opening to traffic, "new cars have become old cars", Korean trains can "return" to Tseung Kwan O Line to provide services.

2018 four-line failure accident

In the "four-lane paralysis" incident in 2018, signal failures occurred on the Tsuen Wan Line, Kwun Tong Line, Hong Kong Island Line and Tseung Kwan O Line, causing major traffic chaos in Hong Kong. MTR was eventually fined $8 million.

According to the investigation report at that time, because the signal system provided by Siemens from Lam Tin to Tiu Keng Leng section of the Kwun Tong Line is different from the signal system of the rest of the Kwun Tong Line, the counter reset arrangements of the two are different, which ultimately makes the computers in the interval unstable. , Causing an accident.

The MTR said at the time that it did not know the result of the reset of the system and believed that the situation was rare, but was willing to take responsibility.

East Rail's new signal system "wrong way"

Until recently, the new signal system of the East Rail Line provided by Siemens has caused a series of incidents. First, during the test in May, three accidents were revealed, including the driver’s flashing lights, the gray screen of the console display, and the interlocking system. It was shut down by mistake; afterwards, the "wrong line" incident broke out recently, making it impossible to change the signal system as scheduled.

Due to the delay in the update of the signal system, the MTR has admitted that it will affect the East Rail Line crossing the sea. In other words, the sea-crossing section of the Shazhong Line that was originally scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2022 may be postponed again.

The new signal system of the East Rail Line has entered the wrong line

The new signal system of the East Rail Line had an accident in May.

East Rail’s new signal system found a problem a few months ago. Yesterday’s response 01 still specified that the emergency stop can be activated.

The new signal system of the East Rail Line has been halted due to an accident and the nine-car train engineer will take three months to repair

Suspected failure of East Rail's new signal system, "wrong way" test vehicle enters the wrong line, Xinjiu truck postponed operation

MTR MTR system failure East Rail Line