Depot-bound subway train takes passengers for ride in Hong Kong
( 2002-09-04 10:33 ) (7 )

A subway driver took hundreds of passengers on a ride they hadn't expected when he kept picking people up on a train bound for the depot, Hong Kong media reported Wednesday.

Once the train branched onto a line that diverted it toward the depot, the driver realized something was wrong and alerted the control center, which told him to brake and reverse so he could take the passengers where they had intended on going, newspapers said.

A spokeswoman for the Mass Transit Railway Corp., or MTR, was quoted as telling the Chinese-language Apple Daily that the foul-up was caused by a miscommunication.

But local legislators were skeptical.

``Why didn't the driver know that the train was heading towards the depot?'' opposition lawmaker Andrew Cheng Kar-foo was quoted as telling the English-language South China Morning Post. ``It is a serious safety issue.''

Cheng said he would ask MTR Chairman Jack So Chak-kwong for an explanation. The MTR did not immediately return phone calls early Wednesday from The Associated Press.