Screen doors for all MTR stations

Last night a man was killed while standing near the edge of an MTR platform in Kwai Fong Station. When the train passed by and dragged him on the platform, two other persons were injured. Others who were in state of shock witnessing the freak accident had to be treated for their traumatic experience.

While many MTR stations in Hong Kong have screen doors, Kwai Fong is one of those that still don't have these barriers. MTR pledged that they will install screen doors at Kwai Fong and seven other above-ground stations before 2012.

I have tried taking trains in Dusseldorf, Manila, Munich, Vienna, Sydney and Tokyo and many (if not all) of their subway stations have no similar facility as this in Hong Kong. So I must say that Hong Kong's MTR looks better and appears safer than the train stations of the cities mentioned and slightly better than Singapore's.

Did Hong Kong do this partly because it has higher suicide rate and that MTR is one of the options for people who want to die? I think Tokyo is at par if not worse than HK.

It's unfortunate that even people who have no intention of taking away their lives are killed in the current platform design. MTR doesn't lack reminders: escalator safety, boarding when the beep sounds and others.

Hopefully this incidence will not be repeated and that screen doors be implemented soon. After all, 2008 is also before 2012.

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