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Tag: LTA

  • WP Member Bernard Chen: Free Travel For Singaporeans Until Fundamental Issues With Public Transportation Are Fixed

    WP Member Bernard Chen: Free Travel For Singaporeans Until Fundamental Issues With Public Transportation Are Fixed

    Until our transport companies and the Ministry get their act together, Singaporeans should be granted free travel on our entire transport network. #justsaying #notsocrazyanidea. #onlyfair. Why should consumers made to pay for a system that is so unreliable and inefficient? I pay a fare to get from point A to point B, not to be stuck on the platform, or in between stations. If the service is not rendered, only fair that consumers need not pay. And why must I pay for your provision of “free bus services” whenever the trains don’t run. #mightaswelldontbuildraillines.

    When their pockets are severely hit, then probably we can finally see some tangible improvements to our public transport system. It is not about paying more for the system for it to be better. It is about sorting out the fundamental problems before you ask consumers to pay. Provide a service first, and consumers will pay. #logicofgovernanceinSingapore#everythingalso讲钱.

     

    Source: Chen Jiaxi Bernard

  • Singapore To Launch First Trial Of Driverless Buses In Jurong West

    Singapore To Launch First Trial Of Driverless Buses In Jurong West

    Driverless buses may soon ply the roads of Singapore, under a new trial to test out such buses for commutes between Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and CleanTech Park, and possibly even to Pioneer MRT station.

    The trial – the first in Singapore with driverless buses – will be conducted by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and NTU’s Energy Research Institute, under an agreement signed at the opening of the Singapore International Transport Congress and Exhibition on Wednesday (Oct 19).

    The agreement follows a Request for Information exercise called by LTA in June last year on autonomous mobility concepts.

    NTU is one of the first research institutions to have trialled a self-driving electric shuttle within the campus and CleanTech Park since 2013. It will now translate that know-how to develop two electric hybrid buses, equipping the vehicles with sensors and other capabilities to allow them to operate without a driver.

    The 12m-long buses could potentially ferry people between NTU and CleanTech Park in the Jurong Innovation District, to even Pioneer MRT station in the future. The single-deck buses can accommodate about 80 passengers.

    The vehicles will also be equipped to charge at a bus stop or depot.

    “Current efforts worldwide have been focused on cars,” said Professor Lam Khin Yong, NTU Chief of Staff and Vice-President of Research. “So, this autonomous bus trial is the first of its kind in Singapore that will aim to improve road safety, reduce vehicle congestion, alleviate pollution and address manpower challenges.”

    LTA also inked an agreement with NTU on a research study to improve preventive maintenance and rail reliability in Singapore.

    A real-time condition monitoring tool that detects early signs of defects in traction power systems will be developed as part of the project. The technology will allow round the clock monitoring, without disrupting normal train operations.

     

    Source: ChannelNewsAsia

  • Former Air Force General: Let’s Scrap LRT, Return To Buses

    Former Air Force General: Let’s Scrap LRT, Return To Buses

    According to SMRT’s managing director and former Air Force general Ling Wee Lee, SMRT is considering to scrap the Bukit Panjang LRT train system and return to buses. The backpedaling idea was proposed on his blog on Monday (Oct 3) and is under fire for bringing Singapore’s public transport system backwards.

    The former RSAF general claimed that the 14-station Bukit Panjang LRT system is reaching its “20-year design cycle” and then proceeded to praise the good old double-decker buses saying a “fully-loaded double decker bus can take 130 passengers”. The Land Transport Authority, is however not pleased with the idea and slammed it as “not practical”.

    SMRT is currently at a loss of fixing the Bukit Panjang LRT train system as breakdowns occur as frequently as weekly. A recent train incident on August 1 saw the train moving at high speed, speeding past four stations without stopping and having its emergency button not working. Last Wednesday (Sep 28), the LRT system saw a massive 8-hour-long breakdown with SMRT blaming it on a track fault.

    SMRT is currently undergoing nationalisation under a buyover by sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings. Its CEO, Desmond Kwek, claimed that the company would have gone into losses had the government did not buy the depreciating physical assets over in a $1.2 billion deal.

     

    Source: http://statestimesreview.com

  • LTA Considers Activating ERP Gantry For KPE

    LTA Considers Activating ERP Gantry For KPE

    The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Friday (Sept 30) that it is considering whether it is feasible to activate the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantry located just before the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) tunnel entrance, after the Tampines Road entry slip road.

    According to the LTA, the traffic speeds along that stretch of the KPE between the Tampines Expressway and Airport Road have “persistently fallen below the optimal speed range of 45kmh to 65kmh for expressways during the morning peak hours on weekdays”.

    This, the LTA said, has led to significant and persistent traffic congestion.

    “We need to monitor the traffic situation in the next quarter, before making the decision on whether we will turn the gantry on,” said a spokesperson for the LTA, adding that this particular gantry has not been activated since the KPE was open.

    “We will have to see if people start using alternative routes and the situation changes,” the spokesman added.

    Meanwhile, the LTA said it has been stepping up improvements for public transport options to help cater to the growing population in the north-east area of Singapore, such as the introduction of two new City Direct bus services from the fourth quarter of 2016, and recently adding 15 new trains to the North East Line.

     

    Source: TODAY Online

  • Hairline Cracks Found, 11 Sengkang-Punggol LRT Trains Withdrawn From Service

    Hairline Cracks Found, 11 Sengkang-Punggol LRT Trains Withdrawn From Service

    Hairline cracks have been found on 11 first-generation Sengkang-Punggol LRT (SPLRT) trains, SBS Transit and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said in a joint statement on Friday (Sept 9).

    The trains were withdrawn from service as a precautionary measure after the discovery of the defects during SBS Transit’s fleet-wide inspection in July. Six of the trains have been repaired and returned to service.

    The remaining five are expected to be reinstated by the middle of next month.

    The cracks were found on the bogie frames of the trains and do not compromise its weight bearing property, said the statement. One of the core functions of the bogie frame is to support the guidance system of the trains.

     

    Location of crack on bogie frame:

    An independent assessor, TUV Rheinland, and the manufacturer Mitsubishi Heavy Industry (MHI) had separately assessed that the defects are not safety-critical, the statement added.

    Friday’s news came about two months after Hong Kong news agency FactWire broke the news that 26 China-made SMRT trains hairline cracks were found to have hairline cracks and would be sent back in batches to their manufacturer’s plant in China for repairs.

    An LTA spokesperson said checks by SBS Transit were “intensified” after the discovery of cracks on the Kawasaki-Sifang MRT trains operated by SMRT. “The latest checks concluded that there are no new discovery of cracks on the other lines. The operators will continue to carry out regular inspections on all train components,” she said in response to TODAY’s queries.

    The FactWire report on the SMRT train defects, which was published in early July, sparked a public outcry. Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan had described the cracks on the SMRT trains – the first of which was discovered in July 2013 – as a routine matter that had been “mis-spun into a controversy”. He added that had the hairline cracks found on the trains compromised safety or service availability, the authorities would have released the information “immediately”.

    While SMRT did not withdraw the affected trains from service before they were sent for repairs, in order to minimise disruption to train operations, SBS Transit said it immediately pulled the affected trains from service as it had adequate capacity to keep operations going.

    A sample of the affected bogie frame has been sent to MHI’s research and development centre in Japan to determine the cause. When contacted, an MHI spokesperson said it is unable to comment as a detailed analysis is being carried out.

    The affected trains have been operating since the SPLRT was launched in 2003. There are a total of 57 trains in the SPLRT fleet and a maximum of 36 trains are deployed at any one time, SBS Transit and LTA said. The operator has been inspecting all its LRT trains on a weekly basis for any new defects.

    SBS Transit and LTA said they are working with MHI to “redesign, strengthen and replace” the bogie frame structures on all 57 trains. They added: “The detailed improvement timeline is being worked out and MHI will bear the replacement costs.”

    The LTA spokesperson said there was no need to ship the affected trains back to Japan as the rectification works were “less complex” as compared to the works to rectify the hairline cracks on the 26 SMRT trains.

    Mountbatten Member of Parliament Lim Biow Chuan, who sits on the Government Parliamentary Committee for transport noted that the Government was more transparent in sharing information about the latest discovery of hairline cracks.

    The defects of the 26 SMRT trains had “caused quite a bit of alarm” among the public as to whether there was a cover-up, he noted.

    “Having learnt a precious lesson that if you don’t tell people, people (will) speculate and attribute all sorts of unsubstantiated comments about why (the) trains are being brought back,” said Mr Lim. “So to avoid any kind of speculation, then I think (LTA and SBS Transit) felt that in this case (it would be) better to tell… although they assessed (the hairline cracks) not to be a major issue.”

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com