Saturday, Dec 17, 2011
Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew expressed his disappointment on Friday with how SMRT handled Thursday's massive breakdown of the North-South line, saying that it is an 'extremely serious disruption that comprised commuters' safety.'
Speaking to reporters at Changi Airport after cutting short a work trip to Cambodia, he made clear that he wanted no effort spared in getting to the bottom of what has been called the worst MRT shutdown in 24 years.
"I don't see this as a typical service lapse. This is a very, very serious disruption and better take heed, learn the lessons improve on the systems.
"Therefore, I've told SMRT chairman Koh Yong Guan when I spoke to him that I hold the board and the management team responsible for making it right," said Mr Lui.
He acknowledged that commuters are angry and concerned, and justifably so, because their well-being was at risk.
Train services were disrupted for five hours on Thursday night, affecting services at 11 stations and stranding thousands of peak hour commuters.
This comes after the recent fare hikes in public transport and two taxi operators.
"We need to go down and determine the root cause of this. What is it in the maintenance regime that can be improved, that can be made more robust and comprehensive, so that if this is indeed a preventable incident, how could we do so," said Mr Lui.
He said he had spoken to SMRT board chairman Mr Koh about the government's concern over the handling of the incident. Mr Lui also said he is convening a panel of relevant experts to do a thorough review of the MRT system, especially the lines run by SMRT.
At a press conference held on Friday afternoon, SMRT said that the disruption was caused by a misalignment of electrical connections between four trains and a 40m section of the tracks between Dhoby Ghaut and City Hall stations.
However, transport analysts are questioning if the higher frequency in breakdowns lately are due to population growth adding to wear and tear.
Mr Lui expressed his concern over commuters who were stranded in the four affected trains and who were kept uninformed about the situation.
Hardly any updates were given until after 30 minutes from the shutdown. Some commuters fainted, lights were intermittent, and one man even used a fire extinguisher to smash a train window for ventilation.
"Especially for the commuters in the affected trains, I do not think that timely and accurate information was given to them as to what was actually happening, how long it would take for them to be rescued, and what SMRT was going to do in order to bring them to safety," said Mr Lui.
He noted shortcomings such as announcements of the breakdown made only in English and direction signs to bridging bus services could not be seen or were not displayed.
"For the other commuters whose travel journeys were affected, I think we can also expect improvement in the information that is put to them, so that they can plan their journeys better."
Another issue he said was weighing on his mind, is what was exactly behind the rail breakdowns in recent times.
There have been 17 disruptions on the North-South and East-West lines, and eight on the Circle Line from January to October this year.
Mr Lui questioned if these are a series of isolated, unrelated incidents, or whether there is a deeper underlying, more systemic issue or issues that need to be tackled.
Therefore, he decided to gather a panel of experts, including overseas ones, to do a 'thorough' review of the country's MRT system, including maintenance, incident management and service recovery issues.
Mr Lui hopes there could be some findings by early next year.
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