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Tag: Desmond Quek

  • Victim’s Family Questions Sacking Of MRT Driver

    Victim’s Family Questions Sacking Of MRT Driver

    The families of the victims in the fatal SMRT accident in March have questioned the operator’s sacking of the train driver involved in the tragedy, before investigations by the relevant authorities are complete and the Coroner’s Inquiry is held.

    Expressing their sympathies for the sacked driver, they reiterated the need for the full picture to emerge. Amid concerns that the sacking could prejudice the ongoing probes, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said in response to TODAY’s queries that the sacking was “an internal decision by SMRT”.

    “Investigations by MOM and LTA are ongoing and will be based on the facts of the case,” they added.

    On Wednesday (Sept 14), The Straits Times reported that Mr Rahmat Mohd, 49, was dismissed on Tuesday after an internal disciplinary inquiry. Citing sources, it added that an operations control centre staff member had also left the company earlier on account of the incident, which occurred on March 22.

    Muhammad Asyraf Ahmad Buhari, 24, and Nasrulhudin Najumudin, 26, were killed by an oncoming train while on their way, as part of a team of 15, to check on a warning signal from a monitoring device.

    Speaking to TODAY, Nasrulhudin’s eldest brother Nasrifudin, 33, said his family was shocked to hear about the sacking of Mr Rahmat. “He could be the breadwinner of the family so we are also sad for him,” said the civil servant.

    Asyraf’s cousin, who wished to be known only as Mr Khai, noted that all the staff involved in the accident as well as their colleagues would have been “affected emotionally and mentally”.

    While he felt that SMRT had its own reasons for dismissing the driver, it would have been better if the operator based its disciplinary actions on the Coroner’s Inquiry, which would uncover the “real sequence of events”.

    “They should wait (for the inquiry),” he said. Nevertheless, he said the family is thankful for SMRT’s support following the tragedy. “We have to accept the situation as it is … The takeaway from all this is that hopefully, none of this happens again,” he added.

    Mr Melvin Yong, the National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU) executive secretary, said that the union had previously written to SMRT, asking it to withhold any disciplinary action until official investigations are complete, so as to not prejudice the outcome.

    “We will now review the situation, study the grounds for SMRT dismissal, and work with the affected staff on the next steps. The union will continue to render affected staff the necessary support and assistance during this difficult time, as we have since the incident,” he added.

    In April, SMRT shared the findings by an independent panel on the accident. The panel found that the team involved had stepped onto the train track before “vital” protection measures were implemented. Also, a speed limit to prevent trains from entering the track area on automated mode was not set, and watchmen were not deployed to look out for and warn of approaching trains, “directly causing” the accident.

    The report was submitted to LTA, MOM and the police to assist with their statutory investigations. A Coroner’s Inquiry will be held after official investigations conclude. LTA had earlier said that its investigations would be completed in the third quarter of this year.

    When contacted, SMRT spokesman Patrick Nathan reiterated that the company does not comment on staff disciplinary measures.

    The sacking of Mr Rahmat also drew flak online.

    Writing on Facebook, prominent blogger Andrew Loh said the firing was a case of “scapegoating”. He asked if the sacked train driver was really at fault, and even if he was, whether he should be made to bear the full responsibility. He added: “Amazing that, at the other end, despite years of failures, disruptions, delays and all sorts of incidents on our trains, affecting millions of commuters, NOT A SINGLE higher-up has ever been held accountable.”

    Referring to Mr Rahmat, Ms Emily Chong wrote on SMRT’s Facebook page: “At 49 years old, he now has to find a new job to support himself and his family — for a mistake that was not his to bear.”

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

     

  • Andrew Loh: Train Driver A Scapegoat, Big Bosses Not Affected

    Andrew Loh: Train Driver A Scapegoat, Big Bosses Not Affected

    Was the train driver really at fault? Even if he had to bear some responsibility, should he bear full responsibility?

    Seems to me this is scapegoating.

    Amazing that, at the other end, despite years of failures, disruptions, delays, and all sorts of incidents on our trains, affecting millions of commuters, NOT A SINGLE higher-up has ever been held accountable.

    In fact, they are even being paid more than a DPM!

    Why is it that it is always the lower-downs who are dealt with swiftly, while the higher-ups are rewarded handsomely despite numerous failings?

     

    Source: Andrew Loh

  • Gerald Giam: Caught In The NSEW Line Breakdown

    Gerald Giam: Caught In The NSEW Line Breakdown

    I was caught in the massive breakdown of the North-South and East-West Line (NSEWL) of the MRT yesterday evening as I was heading to a meeting at the WP HQ in Jalan Besar. When I reached Dover station at about 7.05pm, the eastbound train was already at the platform but with all its cabin lights off. I got onto the train anyway, but waited almost 5 minutes before it finally moved off. The westbound train on the opposite track was similarly stalled. My train stopped midway to the next station and all its lights went out again. This pattern was to repeat itself several more times over the next 25 minutes. When I reached Outram Park station at about 7.35pm, the lights in the train went out a final time and we were told to detrain as it was no longer in service.

    The PA system announcements at the station informed us that train service on the entire NSEWL had been suspended and free shuttle buses were available. So I exited the station thinking I could hop onto one of the buses. Big mistake! The street level was packed with people and there were no buses to be seen and no directional signs to guide the stranded commuters. Someone asked me where the buses were. I told him honestly that I had no idea.

    Knowing that it would be pointless to attempt taking a cab, I headed back down to the station, against the flow of the crowd, hoping to get in again and take the North-East Line (NEL). But all the fare gates were closed and I was told by an SMRT staff that I had to exit and walk around the station to get into the NEL entrance. I finally boarded the NEL and arrived at my meeting almost half an hour late.

    I consider myself fortunate that I was able to hop onto the NEL. The guy sitting next to me on the East-West Line train (before it stopped at Outram) said that he was heading to his home in Simei. I think he, like hundreds of thousands of other commuters, probably got home much later than usual.

    This 3.5 hour service disruption, which happened simultaneously on the two busiest MRT lines during the Tuesday evening rush hour, was probably the most serious service disruption ever. I had flashbacks to November 2011, when I had another close shave — I just missed getting on one of the trains from City Hall station that was to eventually stall in the middle of the tunnel.

    According to SMRT and LTA, the outage was due to a power fault. Preliminary investigations found that a faulty train could have caused the power to trip. I find it astonishing that a fault with a single train could cause power to be cut to trains at all 58 stations on the NSEWL. Is there so little redundancy in the system? Or are all the circuits strung together in series like a cheap set of Christmas tree lights?

    As of the time of this writing, it is still unclear if the MRT service will be available in time for the Wednesday morning rush hour. SMRT has already advised commuters to make alternative travel plans. Both the Minister for Transport and LTA have come out to apologise for the breakdown and demanded that the faults be investigated and rectified. That is little comfort for the quarter-of-a-million or so commuters who suffered this massive inconvenience and frustration.

    The Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the November 2011 MRT disruptions had identified maintenance (or lack thereof) as a key cause of the multiple breakdowns then. Now, almost 4 years later, with a new CEO at the helm who promised to focus more on engineering and maintenance capabilities, we seem to be back to square one. What can we expect moving forward? Another COI?

     

    Source: http://geraldgiam.sg

  • Root Cause Not Found, Lee Hsien Loong ‘Very Concerned’

    Root Cause Not Found, Lee Hsien Loong ‘Very Concerned’

    While an overnight sweep of the North-South and East-West lines turned up several faults including damaged power cables and water leakage, the authorities and train operator SMRT were still none the wiser about the root cause of yesterday’s (July 7) unprecedented breakdown — prompting Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to express his concern that the problem, which brought the two lines to a complete halt and left about 250,000 commuters stranded across the island, could flare up again.

    Mr Lee noted that Land Transport Authority and SMRT staff worked overnight to check the trains, tracks and cables and the trains resumed full service throughout today without a glitch. “But because we have not identified the root cause of the power trips, we are still very worried that the problem may recur,” Mr Lee wrote on Facebook.

    Mr Lee said he was “very concerned” about the breakdown and was briefed about the situation at the LTA Operations Centre today. “We are still trying to find out the cause of the problem… Hope we identify and resolve the faults quickly, to prevent further inconvenience to commuters.”

    Earlier, the LTA and SMRT held a press conference where SMRT Trains managing director Lee Ling Wee said that overnight checks identified two damaged power cables along the North-South line near Bishan MRT station, a faulty relay system at Kranji’s power substation, and a water leakage close to the third-rail insulator at Tanjong Pagar station.

    While these problems had been rectified, they did not provide a conclusive picture of what could have caused the multiple power trips, which intensified and forced SMRT to shut down the lines — which made up the bulk of the Republic’s MRT network and ran through 54 stations.

    The problem, which was quite unlike anything SMRT had dealt with before, was baffling its experts. “We are not 100 per cent sure on the root cause,” he said. He noted that it could be a combination or any of several factors such as from train and track conditions, train frequency, and the amount of moisture on the tracks.

    There are protective relay systems installed in power substations along the North-South and East-West lines, which are activated when voltage between the running rail and electrical earth surges beyond a safe limit. The fact that the running rail is connected across both lines complicates investigations, he said. “So it is very hard for us to isolate exactly where this breakdown in insulation was …(But) if we don’t do it, it will happen in different parts of the network, it is unpredictable, it is random, depending on how many train runs in the system. Where there are more trains, the chances of it happening is higher,” he said.

    Train services ground to a halt at 7.15pm yesterday. The first signs of trouble surfaced more than an hour earlier, when SMRT detected multiple power trips. These were initially rectified but the power trips intensified in frequency and impact, and eventually caused nine trains to stall between stations. SMRT managed to get these trains moving again to the nearest stations before it shut down the system.

    Working through the night, engineers checked the trains, tracks and power systems for anomalies such as burn marks, dislodged and dangling cables. Preliminary investigation initially narrowed the problem to a a faulty train but it was later found to be normal.

    Mr Lee Ling Wee said the glitches discovered during the overnight checks were not identified during routine maintenance checks, which are conducted every six months, with more comprehensive checks carried out once a year.

    “Our routine checks do cover these (components) but … it’s not like (checks are done) every day … so you can expect in an ageing system, some of these may fail in between the intervals,” he said. “There (was) no reason for us to suspect that these things will fail, because all regular maintenance checks have not uncovered such issues in the past.”

    Nevertheless, he said that SMRT may increase the frequency of the checks and look into installing monitoring devices that can spot faults on a real-time basis. With 45 more trains to be added to the North-South and East-West lines after the completion of sleeper replacement and re-signalling work, SMRT will engage external consultants to assess the lines’ power capacity and robustness “with more urgency” following the breakdown, he added. LTA chief executive Chew Men Leong said a new voltage-limiting device has been piloted for Downtown Line 1, which can isolate power trips.

    Transport experts whom TODAY spoke to called on SMRT to step up its maintenance regime, including by tapping technology.

    SIM University transport analyst Park Byung Joon said that real-time sensors may help nip glitches in the bud. “Since it is not physically possible to expand maintenance hours, it is time to think about more expensive investments to enhance the maintenance schedule,” he said.

    National University of Singapore engineering professor Lee Der-Horng added: “Perhaps (SMRT) should shorten the intervals between routine checks. I would have thought that SMRT would have accumulated enough experience and data to determine an optimal maintenance regime.”

    At the press conference, both Mr Chew and SMRT chief executive Desmond Kuek apologised again to affected commuters. Mr Kuek said: “(The incident) is a stark reminder that the journey to bringing about a higher order of reliability and assurance is a difficult one … but we are committed to it.”

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Desmond Kuek: Spate Of Train Disruptions Underscores Need For Continued Vigilance And Maintenance

    Desmond Kuek: Spate Of Train Disruptions Underscores Need For Continued Vigilance And Maintenance

    The recent spate of train disruptions underscores the need for SMRT to keep up its vigilance and maintenance efforts, said its President and Group CEO Desmond Kuek.

    Mr Kuek was speaking at a media conference on Friday morning (Mar 6), following a series of train disruptions.

    The most recent were on Tuesday, where two disruptions during the morning and evening rush hour along the Circle Line and East West Line, respectively, brought trains to a stop. SMRT issued an apology for the disruptions later that day.

    Mr Kuek said that there has been steady progress made in enhancing rail reliability over the past few years. The number of train withdrawals for every 100,000 kilometres dropped from 3.3 in 2012 to 2.2 in 2013, and a low of 1.05 last year, he said.

    With new systems are brought in and ageing systems are renewed, the train operator has also expanded its engineering and technical staff, and is looking to recruit more over the coming three years, he added.

    By 2018, the number of SMRT engineers and technicians is expected to grow by 39 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively. This is to meet with an “expanded network and higher operating standards”, the rail operator said in a press release on Friday.

    INITIATIVES TO STRENGTHEN RAIL RELIABILITY 

    Over the next two years, a total of 45 new trains will progressively be added to the North-South and East-West Lines, while the Circle Line will have 24 more new trains. Thirteen new trains will also be added to the Bukit Panjang LRT system, SMRT said.

    According to SMRT, a new fleet of trains will be introduced in 2018 to address components such as doors and brakes that have been the primary cause of delays owing to train faults. Design studies will be completed this year, followed by the testing of a prototype in 2016 and the systematic upgrading of the train fleet thereafter, the rail operator added.

    To reduce track faults on the East-West Line, SMRT said it will commence re-sleepering works starting April this year and the track renewal is set to complete by 2017. The re-sleepering works on the North-South line are close to completion, and commuters can expect a smoother ride from next month as the speed restrictions are progressively lifted, SMRT said.

    SMRT also said a new signalling system will be installed to increase train frequency, leading to reduced waiting time and congestion on station platforms and trains. It is expected to be fully operational on the North-South Line by 2016 and on the East-West Line by 2018.

    INCIDENTS A REMINDER THAT THERE IS MORE TO BE DONE: LTA

    Responding to the SMRT statement later on Friday, a Land Transport Authority (LTA) spokesman said the agency “fully empathises with commuters’ frustrations over the recent spate of service disruptions on the SMRT rail network”. The LTA is working with SMRT on remedial actions to improve the situation, the spokesman added.

    While pointing out that SMRT has made improvements to strengthen its maintenance regime, the LTA spokesman said that the incidents in the past weeks “are a reminder that there is more to be done”. LTA said that it will work with SMRT to review SMRT’s management of resources and processes relating to the maintenance of the rail system to “identify areas for improvement”.

    The LTA said it will also work with SMRT to improve its recovery processes, and will require SMRT “to deploy additional staff and resources to facilitate faster service recovery, crowd management and information dissemination. For instance, more service ambassadors will be deployed to better assist commuters in the event of a service disruption”.

    This report was edited at Mar 6, 4.45pm, after SMRT and LTA clarified that the number of train withdrawals for every 100,000km was 1.05 in 2014, not 1.0 as SMRT announced at their morning press conference.

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com