'Hill rail spare parts not given'.

GEORGE TOWN: Penang Hill Corporation (PHC) has maintained that the lack of spare parts had hampered repair works on its funicular train, which came to a grinding halt early this month due to mechanical failure caused by a collision with stray dogs.

It further maintained that the list of essential spares was never given to them in spite of requests made by email, orally and by letter.

"If PHC had the necessary spare parts, it would have been able to repair the train in one hour and a full damage and safety assessment could have been carried out immediately," PHC said in a statement yesterday.

"However, it does not have the spare part known as the tow bar, …