【明報專訊】THE CONSTRUCTION DELAYS of the Express Rail Link (XRL) project are a damning indictment of the poor management of the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL). They have greatly tarnished its reputation, and the company has yet to inform the public of the extent of the cost overruns. All the three reports on the XRL affair pinpoint poor management as its main cause. Obviously, the responsibility lies with former MTRCL chief executive officer Jay Walder, who was at its helm. However, things have taken quite an absurd turn recently, as it has emerged that Walder was awarded $15.7 million in contractual settlement as stipulated in a departure agreement between him and the MTRCL. The MTRCL has to explain in detail why it was so generous to him. If it fails to do so, suspicions of a black box operation and transfers of advantages will further tarnish its reputation, and the public will doubt that its management is determined to cure its long-standing maladies and exert itself to make it strong and prosperous.