Over the past few months, Railway District (RAILDIST) has collaborated with a number of Force units and the Mass Transit Railway Corporation Limited (MTRCL) to roll out a number of initiatives, with a view to tightening security measures and enhancing the tacit knowledge of MTRCL staff.

RAILDIST has recently joined hands with the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bureau and the Inter-departmental Counter Terrorism Unit to hold two seminars for MTRCL staff on global security threats targeting railway networks as well as the identification and handling of improvised explosive devices, suspicious objects and persons.

Moreover, officers of RAILDIST and the Critical Infrastructure Security Coordination Centre have conducted a series of site walk-through with MTRCL to identify security inadequacies of physical structures and provided advice to the MTRCL to enhance the security of the railway network. To this end, the MTRCL has commenced a number of improvement work to provide a safer operating environment for its staff and commuters.

Last but not least, RAILDIST and the MTRCL have jointly conducted a number of drills and exercises over the past couple of months to enable MTRCL staff to put security knowledge into practice. The latest being Exercise IRONFAN which took place between March and May 2020. During the exercise, a simulated suspicious object was placed at selected MTR stations in order to test the alertness, response and knowledge of MTRCL staff in handling suspicious objects. The exercise was concluded with positive outcomes. RAILDIST and the MTRCL will continue to work together to ensure the security and safety of the railway network in Hong Kong.

MTRCL staff handle a simulated suspicious object during an exercise.