Railway City

"Brake jam" or "brake hanging" occurs when a brake is unable to be released from a wheel of train. The brake pad will be rubbing against the rotating braking disc or wheel, which will generate heat as well as some smoke and burning smell. This does not pose any safety risks and the train is still able to move. Under the circumstance, the railway corporation will arrange detrainment of passengers at a station and return of the train to depot for rectifications.

In the event of loss of train power supply, though the normal lighting and air-conditioning become inoperative, the emergency lighting and ventilation fans within the train will continue to operate with power supplying from the standby batteries. Thus, safety of passengers inside the train is safeguarded. In the meantime, the railway corporation will arrange to resume power supply or push/pull the incident train to the nearest station for detrainment.

Train doors or platform screen doors have been designed in accordance with relevant international standard to detect obstacles. These doors are also installed with rubber linings to absorb any impact during door closing. The soft rubber linings render the detection of overly thin objects (such as plastic bags) impossible. Moreover, an excessive sensitivity for obstacle may hinder the operations of train doors or platform screen doors. Passengers are advised to take care of their belongings during boarding or alighting.

Trains are designed to be unable to start when the train doors and platform screen doors (if installed) have not been confirmed closed, in order to protect passengers on board and at platforms. There may be occasions that the train doors and platform screen doors become defective and are unable to be closed. Under the circumstances, the railway corporation will arrange the defective doors to be rectified immediately or locked with appropriate notices posted on them for alerting passengers of the defects.

When an equipment of a train becomes faulty and emits smoke, the relevant protective device of the train will operate to cut off the electric power to the equipment. Moreover, the railway tunnel is equipped with a ventilation system. If the amount of the smoke is significant, the tunnel ventilation system will be activated to extract the smoke. In the unlikely event that the equipment under the train catches fire, the floor of the train car is so constructed to be fire resistant. As a result, passengers inside a train saloon are adequately protected from the fire or smoke from under the train car.