The Highways Department on Monday said safety standards would not be compromised amid the adoption of benchmarks from outside of Hong Kong in formulating its own railway standards. The recently-published Hong Kong Railway Standards spells out the requirements for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of future projects. Apart from existing standards in Hong Kong, it also includes those from the mainland and overseas. Speaking on RTHK, Raymond Ip, the department's Commissioner for the Northern Metropolis Railways Office, said factors of consideration include safety levels, cost effectiveness, supply chain situation and procurement efficiency, and it has opted for the best ones when reviewing the railway standards of other places. "There is absolutely nothing to worry about. Because in the standards, we have set performance levels and key performance indicators," he said. "We have made no changes to these. The levels will not be lowered by our adoption of standards from other places." On top of the document, a Railway Checking Unit tasked with approving building plans for future projects was also set up. The group, Ip said, would also act as a gatekeeper to ensure the works are up to par. He added the new set of technical specifications would be applied to the Northern Link and the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Rail Link first. The commissioner also said more mainland standards were adopted in the document, instead of the past practice of mainly referencing places such as the UK and Europe. Adjustments were made under the adoption to suit Hong Kong's environmental situations, such as typhoon effects and geological conditions, Ip added. Edited by Tony Sabine