HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 11 January 1989
香港立法局————————一九八九年一月十一日
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關於第二點,即響號的問題,我會將這項建議轉交九廣鐵路當局,請其研究可否盡量減輕噪音 或甚至不響號。
第三點有關法律問題,應該請地政工務司根據現有環保條例答覆,談談可否管制有關火車在十 一時後的噪音問題。
SECRETARY FOR LANDS AND WORKS: Sir, the provisions to which Mr. WONG refers are normally only used in respect of neighbourhood noises such as rowdy parties and other nuisance of that kind. They are not applied, for instance, to motor vehicles and although I could not categorically say that a good lawyer might not make them applicable to railway trains also, I believe that the police would find it difficult to take action.
MRS. LAU: Sir, can the Administration inform this Council whether the frequency of cargo trains in the day time is already saturated and whether the Administration will consider banning the running of cargo trains after midnight all together and increasing the frequency of the same in the day time?
SECRETARY FOR TRANSPORT: Sir, I did make this suggestion to the corporation some time ago as regards the possibility of reducing or removing the need for late night cargo trains after 12 midnight. There are difficulties in this. The first is that priority must be given by the corporation to passenger traffic in the day time and in the peak hours. At the present time 480 trains are running throughout the day time and up to capacity, and this means there is little room to introduce cargo trains within this tight schedule. Right now there are about 20 freight trains providing the service during the day time and of these, as I said just now, only four, and from next month, three will be running after 11 pm. There are serious difficulties in rescheduling the cargo trains to fit the pre- midnight operation because of the priority for passenger service, but I will certainly suggest to the corporation to look at this further to see whether or not this late night service can be further reduced, if not removed.
Age of admission to primary school
3. MR. DAVID CHEUNG asked: Will the Administration inform this Council whether or not, in reviewing the provision of nine-year compulsory free education, consideration will be given to lowering the age of admission to primary schools from six years to five years?