【明報專訊】RUMOUR was already rife last year that the Express Rail Link (XRL) project would fall behind schedule. The management of the MTR Corporation Ltd (MTRCL) kept denying it until it could not choose but admit it. The "black" rainstorm Hong Kong saw towards the end of last March has given the MTRCL management an opportunity. It has now attributed the delay (of at least a year) to the torrential downpour and unforeseeable geological conditions at the site of the XRL terminal in West Kowloon. In short, the delay has to do with heaven and earth, and nobody is to blame.