MTR pledges cooperation with gov’t after reports of underfilled pillars at Tung Chung West Station

Hong Kong’s railway operator, the MTR Corporation, has announced that it will cooperate with a government probe into a construction fault, after local media reported that up to 30 concrete pillars at the new Tung Chung West Station were found to be underfilled.

The MTR Corporation said in a response issued on Monday that it had noticed issues with “certain pillars,” which were being constructed by contractors on the platform level of the new Tung Chung West Station.

The transport corporation said it had issued a non-compliance notice to the main contractor, and was pursuing the matter regarding operational errors, handling procedures, and liabilities.

Construction on Tung Chung West Station began in 2023, with the station scheduled to open in 2029.

“At present, the corporation is awaiting the contractor’s submission of a comprehensive report along with a proposed rectification plan,” the MTR Corporation said in a Chinese-language response, adding that it would fully cooperate with government departments in their investigation and submit timely reports detailing root causes, remedial plans, and follow-up actions.

In response to HKFP, the Buildings Department said it first noticed the issue on October 27 during a regular inspection and quality audit, finding two defective columns and ordering the registered structural engineer and contractor to conduct a comprehensive check.

As of last Friday, the registered structural engineer had found around 30 defective concrete pillars at the construction site, the department said.

The department also ordered the registered structural engineer to submit an incident report by mid-November.

The responses came after HK01 reported in an exclusive on Saturday that around 30 concrete pillars in the concourse of Tung Chung West Station were suspected of being improperly poured, leaving a gap of roughly 20 to 30 centimetres between the concrete and the ceiling.

“It is understood that there are 60 pillars across the entire concourse level, and about half of them show similar defects, affecting half of the concourse floor area,” the report reads.

In response to local media, the MTR Corporation confirmed on Saturday for the first time that it had found problematic columns on the platform level of Tung Chung West Station during a regular inspection.

It said it was checking all concrete pillars on the platform and concourse levels, but did not confirm whether there were any defects on the concourse level.

‘No danger to the station’s structural integrity’

The Buildings Department said that Tung Chung West Station, which is now under construction, is a three-storey station comprising the ground level, the concourse level, and the platform level.

It is being constructed using the top-down method—meaning the floor slabs are cast prior to the structural columns and structural walls, the department said. Currently, the floor slabs for both the concourse and platform levels have been completed, while vertical structural elements on the platform level, including columns and structural walls, are under construction.

“As the temporary falsework supporting the floor slab has not yet been removed, the defective columns pose no danger to the station’s structural integrity,” the department said.

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Irene Chan is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press and has an interest in covering political and social change. She previously worked at Initium Media as chief editor for Hong Kong news and was a community organiser at the Society for Community Organisation serving the underprivileged. She has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Fudan University and a master’s degree in social work from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Irene is the recipient of two Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) awards and three honourable mentions for her investigative, feature and video reporting. She also received a Human Rights Press Award for multimedia reporting and an honourable mention for feature writing.