18 Executive management’s report > Railway operations

in-flight. Marketing partnerships Rail, a leading international rail expert The Lloyd’s Register Rail report was
continued with the Asia Miles frequent and validation agency. Following the delivered in February 2005. The
flyer programme and the Hong Kong conclusion of the investigation by the conclusions were that MTR service
Tourism Board. internal task force in November, the performance has seen significant
Company began implementation of a improvement since 2001 and that best
Service performance series of improvement initiatives to practice asset management was in place
The Company recognises that excellence augment our robust maintenance regime across the Company. We will implement
in service delivery is crucial to our and incident handling procedures. the recommendations put forward in the
success in being a pre-eminent public These include: report. These include enhancements to
transport provider. During the year, the processes for the introduction of new
• Increasing inspection of key railway
We maintained our very high standards of lines and facilities to minimise any
systems
reliability, safety, comfort, and customer • Adopting technology from outside the impact to service delivery, as well as
satisfaction. railway industry improvements to our asset management
• Using higher-standard components systems, including IT systems, to cater for
Regrettably, a number of noticeable, but
newly available in the market higher customer sensitivity and improve
not safety critical, incidents in the final
• Accelerating the programme for certain the quality of the journey for our
months of the year caused some delays
equipment and parts replacement customers.
and inconvenience to passengers, giving
• Rapid deployment of staff at stations
rise to public concerns over the reliability during train service disruptions Our Asset Management Policy stipulates
of the Company’s systems. In an effort to • Improving communication with that MTR is committed to the efficient
understand the root causes of these passengers in case of disruptions. and effective management of our railway
incidents and address passenger assets to ensure that the Operating
These measures aim at further
concerns, MTR established an internal Agreement and all relevant statutory
strengthening MTR’s ability to reduce the
task force of senior management and requirements are complied with. This is
chance of equipment failures that could
technical experts to investigate these achieved through continuous
affect train service and cause delays, and
occurrences, and commissioned an improvement of the asset management
minimising inconvenience to passengers
independent review of our railway processes under the principles of
in the event of a delay.
processes and assets by Lloyd’s Register minimising the life cycle costs of assets,
maximising their worth to the business
and managing the associated risks.

Railway operating costs per car km operated Market shares of major transport operators in HK
Continued improvements in efficiency and productivity led to MTR’s value for money services and improved connectivity with other
further cost savings. modes of transport helped increase market share.
Additional costs relating to SARS caused the maintenance cost ratio
to rise slightly in 2003.
Despite the attention given to these Levels of customer satisfaction recorded
incidents of delay and concern to during the year by our regular survey
passengers, for 2004 as a whole the remained generally high. In 2004, the New entrances, such as that at
Mong Kok Station, are giving
Company continued to exceed the Service Quality Index for the MTR Lines a bright, modern appearance
minimum performance levels required by and AEL stood at 71 and 82 respectively to stations
the Government under the Operating on a 100-point scale. MTR also again
Agreement, and the more stringent performed well according to the 11-
Customer Service Pledges established by member Community of Metros (CoMET)
MTR itself in every area. For the year, MTR benchmarking report, in the areas of
passenger journeys on time were 99.9%, safety, service quality and passenger cost.
supported by 99.9% reliability for train In addition, MTR won the Top Service
service delivery. Escalator reliability was Award 2004 – Public Transport from
99.9%, with the average machine out of Hong Kong’s Next Magazine, the sixth
service for about half-an-hour per month. year in a row the Company has achieved
Excellent performance was also recorded this recognition.
in key areas which affect passenger
The effectiveness of MTR’s crisis response
comfort such as temperature, ventilation
was demonstrated in January, when the
and cleanliness.
first ever arson attack took place on an
20 Executive management’s report > Railway operations

Urban Line train. The incident was Service improvements Projects to improve barrier free
resolved quickly and caused no injury to The year saw further improvements to movement in stations continued in 2004
either passengers or personnel thanks to MTR’s infrastructure and services. with new passenger lifts installed at
the rapid and effective response of MTR Central, Tin Hau and Sai Wan Ho stations.
In April, a new entrance at Kowloon Tong
staff and the calm reaction of passengers. At Tsim Sha Tsui Station, three new
Station connecting the station with the
In recognition of their exemplary escalators were installed and opened in
new concourse of KCRC’s Kowloon Tong
performance in handling of the incident, March for public use at a refurbished
Station was opened. In September, MTR
the MTR employees involved were entrance leading to Humphreys Avenue.
also opened a new subway system
presented with commendation letters by
passing underneath Mody Road The project to retrofit platform screen
the Secretary for Environment, Transport
connecting Tsim Sha Tsui Station with the doors at all 30 underground stations,
and Works, on behalf of the Government.
KCRC’s East Tsim Sha Tsui Station. These which began in early 2002 and is
Despite the incident, MTR was able to developments enhanced the ease of scheduled for completion in March 2006,
maintain a high level of safety access to the KCRC and MTR networks remained on schedule. At the end of
performance throughout 2004 and all and of passenger transfer between them. 2004, these doors were in operation on
safety targets set out in the Corporation 56 of the 74 platforms involved in 22
MTR’s interchange with the East Rail is
Safety Plan were achieved. The incident stations. This means that the project was
part of a wider strategy to promote
nonetheless highlighted the importance completed on the Tsuen Wan Line and for
patronage through improved linkage
of safety to MTR train operations and all stations on the Kwun Tong Line
with other modes of transport. 2004 saw
service and throughout the year, the between Yau Ma Tei and Wong Tai Sin.
the extension of inter-modal fare
Company continued our efforts to The project was also completed
discounts to 14 feeder routes for travellers
promote safe behaviour when travelling between Sheung Wan and Causeway Bay
transferring to MTR from feeder buses on
on MTR. Educational activities and stations, and at North Point Station, on
three New Lantao Bus routes, ten Green
campaigns were launched, including a the Island Line.
Minibus routes and one cross-border bus
Safety Web Game that highlighted MTR’s
route. To enlarge the catchment area, the All of the new facilities, entrances and
safety messages in an easy to understand
number of fare saver machines offering improved maintenance and service
and attractive way, a Safety Carnival and a
discounts to Octopus card holders at delivery regimes were introduced with no
one-month safety campaign.
locations some distance from MTR increase in manpower levels.
stations was increased to 15 in 2004.

Market shares of major transport operators Market shares of major transport operators
crossing the harbour to/from the airport
Speed and covenience were among the key attributes leading to AEL’s estimated market share dropped slightly, partly due to a change in
improved cross-harbour market share. the mix of visitors arriving at and departing from the airport.
 M T R CO R P O R AT I O N L I M I T E D ANNUAL REPORT 2004 21

Productivity increases
The continuing hiring freeze and
increased outsourcing helped MTR to
raise productivity during the year, as did
several other initiatives which aimed at
creating efficiencies. Airport Railway
stations assumed responsibility for AEL
car park management at Hong Kong,
Kowloon and Tsing Yi stations after the
expiry of management contracts, and this
has led to marked productivity gains.
More effective utilisation of non-traffic
hours was achieved through the
introduction of a new computer system
to facilitate booking, confirmation and
cancellation of possessions and
pedestrian access works on tracks.

As a result of these productivity gains,

operating costs per car km decreased
1.8% in 2004 to HK$22.1. Since 1998,
operating costs per car km has decreased
by 24.3%.

Octopus Card Enquiry Machines

in stations allow passengers
to check their balances, adding
to convenience

Staff efficiency and financial performance

Benchmarking comparisons A hiring freeze and other productivity initiatives resulted in further
MTR again performed well against international benchmarks, gains in efficiency.
particularly on service reliability and punctuality. * the leading metro improved its costs significantly
22 Executive management’s report > Railway operations

System and market information

Railway operation data 2004 2003

Total route length in km 87.7 87.7

Number of rail cars 1,050 1,050

Number of “e-lnstant Bonus” machines in stations 18 18

Number of station kiosks and mini-banks in stations 515 490

Number of poster advertising media in stations 14,863 14,328

Number of advertising media in trains 13,072 13,072

Daily hours of operation 19 19

Minimum train headway in seconds Morning peak Evening peak Morning peak Evening peak
– Tsuen Wan Line 128 144 128 144
– Kwun Tong Line 128 144 128 144
– Island Line 128 156 128 156
– Tseung Kwan O Line 160 180 160 180
– Tung Chung Line
Hong Kong – Tung Chung 480 600 480 600
Hong Kong – Tsing Yi 240 300 240 300
– Airport Express Line 720 720 900 900

International performance comparisons: The 11-member Community of Metros (CoMET)

MTR* Metro Metro Metro Metro Metro Metro Metro Metro Metro Metro
Metro system network data (2003) Lines A B C D E F G H I J

Passenger journeys in million 770 458 948 1,375 602 3,201 1,384 1,248 400 507 2,074

Car kilometres in million 113 129 482 331 149 641 539 218 94 88 255

Route length in km 80 153 408 201 227 276 471 212 115 58 183

Number of stations 49 170 275 147 190 155 424 297 66 52 138

* The Airport Express Line is excluded from metro benchmarking

Note: The other metros in the comparison are Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe, London Underground Limited, New York City Transport, Sistema de Transporte Colectivo,
Regie Autonome de Transports Parisiens Metro, Regie Autonome de Transports Parisiens Regional Express Railway, Metroplitano de Sao Paulo, Tokyo Metro, Moscow Metro and
Metro de Madrid. The benchmarking agreement prohibits specifically identifying the data by metro system.
 M T R CO R P O R AT I O N L I M I T E D ANNUAL REPORT 2004 23

Operations performance in 2004

Performance Customer Service Actual performance
Service performance item Requirement Pledge target in 2004

Train service delivery 98.5% 99.5% 99.9%

Passenger journeys on time

– MTR Lines 98.5% 99.5% 99.9%
– Airport Express Line 98.0% 99.0% 99.9%

Train punctuality
– MTR Lines 98.0% 99.0% 99.7%
– Airport Express Line 98.0% 99.0% 99.9%

Train reliability: train car-km per train failure causing delays ≥ 5 minutes N/A 500,000 1,027,233

Ticket reliability: magnetic ticket transactions per ticket failure N/A 8,000 10,125

Add value machine reliability 95.5% 98.0% 99.4%

Ticket issuing machine reliability 93.0% 98.0% 99.5%

Ticket gate reliability 97.0% 99.0% 99.8%

Escalator reliability 98.0% 99.0% 99.9%

Passenger lift reliability 98.5% 99.0% 99.8%

Temperature and ventilation

– Trains: to maintain a cool, pleasant and comfortable train
environment generally at a temperature at or below 26°C N/A 97.0% 99.9%
– Stations: to maintain a cool, pleasant and comfortable
environment generally at or below 27°C for platforms and 29°C
for stations concourses, except on very hot days N/A 90.0% 99.3%

Cleanliness
– Train compartment: cleaned daily N/A 98.5% 100%
– Train body: washed every 2 days N/A 98.0% 99.9%

Passenger enquiry response time within 7 working days N/A 99.0% 99.9%