Hong Kong leader John Lee Ka-chiu was stern-faced and did not mince his words as he took the MTR Corporation to task for “inadequacies” in the way it responded to emergencies and planned for disruptions. He spelled out what he expected of the city’s rail operator when he spoke on May 27, five days after the third service disruption in four months due to technical failures. He demanded action to prevent incidents, which could affect thousands of the rail system’s 5 million daily riders. But if...