Partnering for success: case of seamless outsourced rolling stock maintenance

The Hong Kong MTR is one of the finest metro systems in the world which carries over 2.3 million passengers daily. It is very critical for MTR to provide a reliable passenger train service at all times. The maintenance of the rolling stock has been carried out by in-house resources since the opening of the railway in 1979. MTR opened the new Tseung Kwan O Line in August 2002. The maintenance service of the 15 passenger trains stabled at the new Tseung Kwan O Depot (TKD) was outsourced to A. Goninan & Co. Ltd in January 2002 with the maintenance service commenced in August 2002. This is the first rolling stock maintenance service outsourcing contact awarded by MTR. In order to ensure that the potential service and safety risks that may arise from outsourcing of the passenger train maintenance are properly managed, MTR had commissioned a detailed study on the scope and format of the outsourcing. It was also essential that the outsourcing had a cost saving when compared with the in-house option. Furthermore, it was targeted to define the performance regime and monitoring mechanism in a simple way such that the contractor can focus on delivering the key results, ie a safe and reliable train service. The real success of the outsourcing can only be achieved when the contractor shares the same goal. From the outset of the contract, MTR and Goninan are committed in the partnering approach. The ultimate goal is to attain a seamless operation between the outsourced TKD with all relevant activities of MTR. In this joint paper from MTR and Goninan, the experience of both the client and the contractor in the process of pursuing the seamless operation for the TKD Rolling Stock Maintenance Service Contract are elaborated.

Media Info

  • Pagination: 7p.
  • Monograph Title: New horizons for rail: CORE 2004: conference on railway engineering, June 20-23 2004, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01517256
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Source Agency: ARRB
  • Files: ATRI
  • Created Date: Mar 4 2014 8:15PM