Tag: trains

Hairline Cracks Found, 11 Sengkang-Punggol LRT Trains Withdrawn From Service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The trains were withdrawn from service as a precautionary measure after the discovery of the defects during SBS Transit’s fleet-wide inspection in July.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

September 10, 2016
Open Letter To SMRT: Don’t Be Too Quick To Shift Blame To Deceased Staff

We have heard it all before.

You say you are sorry. And that you share our sadness.

But you will return to your families and sleep easy tonight, while we mourn a tragic loss. Tomorrow morning, you will not have to make the dreadful trip to the mortuary to identify the lifeless and mangled body of a loved one. How can you say that you share our sadness? You do not understand our grief.

Yet you ever-so eloquently say that you are “very saddened by the loss.” But to you, the two young lives lost today are just a statistic; A number that you have to account for in the face of public outrage. Just collateral damage. Soon, you will forget. Your career goes on. Your life goes on.

To us they were beloved sons, brothers, cousins, nephews, friends. Brilliant human beings who had promising futures ahead of them.

Honest young men who woke up one morning, had breakfast with their families, and eagerly showed up for work. Brave young men who, a few hours later in the hot midday sun, responded to a train track fault only to be struck by a train. They followed your orders only to be betrayed.

As Muslims we try to live life right, to be kind to others, and live life knowing that one day we will return to our Maker. We do not fear or resent death.

What we resent are your attempts to clear yourselves of any fault, insisting that you have observed all the standard operating procedures. If you did everything right, then your standard operating procedures must be flimsy.

Your carefully maneuvered words make us wonder: are you attempting to shift the blame to the deceased? You know it is easy to blame someone who can no longer speak for himself.

Instead of being so quick to protect your interests, seek the humanity deep within you to acknowledge your mistakes and learn from them to ensure that this tragedy does not happen to any one else’s son. Will you take responsibility? Or will your public relations team continue to craft words to protect you from blame?

At this point, the families are grieving at the loss of a beloved. But grief will soon turn into anger.

The author is a relative of one of the deceased who passed on in the SMRT train tragedy on 22 March 2016 at 11.10 a.m.

Source: http://kentridgecommon.com

March 23, 2016
28 Year Old Bangladeshi Jailed 8 Months For Molesting Woman On MRT

A 28-year-old man was today (Sept 17) sentenced to eight months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to molesting a woman on an MRT train.

A district court heard that Islam Md Mohidul, a Bangladeshi national working in Singapore, had boarded the train at Kranji MRT Station at around 6.45am on June 26 as part of his commute from his dormitory in Kranji to his worksite near City Hall.

Later, the victim boarded the same train compartment at Sembawang MRT Station. After she managed to get a seat to Islam’s right, the woman started reading some documents, and later fell asleep.

Islam decided to take advantage of the situation by touching her. As there were many commuters on the train, he pretended to cross his arms but then slipped his left hand under his right elbow to “surreptitiously reach over” to the victim’s left breast.

He started to rub her breast slowly to test if the woman would be awakened, and did so more forcefully after she did not show any reaction.

Islam retracted his hand when the victim woke up. After the woman told him off, he apologised and claimed he had accidentally touched her.

She also took a photo of the accused before he alighted at City Hall MRT Station. Islam was arrested on July 15.

Yesterday, Islam, who came to Singapore about three months ago to work, told the court through a translator that he was truly remorseful.

Source: www.todayonline.com

September 18, 2015
Soldiers Will Be Roped In To Assist In Major Train Disruptions

Soldiers will be roped in as marshals to give directions to stricken commuters in the event of a massive train breakdown, The Straits Times has learnt.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA), which is beefing up its contingency plans, has approached the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) to explore deploying the men in green to give directions and manage crowds. They will be tapped only during large-scale disruptions.

LTA said that personnel from the police, Public Transport Security Command (Transcom) and the Singapore Civil Defence Force are already helping LTA and the public transport operators in managing such incidents.

An LTA spokesman told The Straits Times that it “will also work with other agencies like the Defence Ministry (Mindef) to provide additional manpower resources if necessary”.

When contacted, Mindef confirmed the move, saying that SAF will work with LTA in the event of a major disruption, “while maintaining our primary responsibility to safeguard our security environment”.

The latest move comes on the back of a spate of major incidents involving Singapore’s rail system.

The most recent was the massive July 7 breakdown of the North-South and East-West MRT lines, which affected some 250,000 commuters during the peak hour.

When trains broke down around 7pm, there were accounts of people not managing to reach home until close to midnight. Some walked all the way.

A review was conducted in the wake of the incident, said Senior Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo in Parliament on Monday.

It was found that the contingency plans of rail operator SMRT were “not adequate” to handle the scale of the breakdown, she added.

As a result, trunk bus services calling at MRT stations hit by delays or breakdowns will be ramped up to provide alternative travel options for commuters, said Mrs Teo.

Transport expert Park Byung Joon said that tapping on the military during massive disruptions makes sense, as soldiers can be called up and deployed at short notice and “can channel commuters to the right places as quickly as possible”.

The adjunct associate professor at SIM University said using the military as “an alternative backup manpower” during such incidents is not unheard of.

He pointed out that some special force troops in the South Korean army learn how to operate trains, to ensure train services continue in the event of a strike by train drivers.

Alex Yam, deputy chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Defence and Foreign Affairs, said deploying SAF personnel at MRT stations is not entirely new as soldiers are already put in key installations like Jurong Island and Changi Airport to conduct patrols.

They also have experience in crowd control during major national events like the National Day Parade.

Mr Yam added: “Transcom already has a sizeable pool of officers, so activating military men will not be the first course of action. It is a last resort.”

Source: http://news.asiaone.com

August 21, 2015
“Raise Fares To Improve Train Service”

“Raise fares to improve train service”, says the title of the letter to the Straits Times forum page on Wednesday.

Mr Jonathan Toh Joo Khai, the writer, pointed at the Public Transport Council (PTC), which regulates public transport fares, as the “root cause of SMRT’s frequent train breakdowns.”

“The fare hikes are miserly compared with the rate of inflation,” Mr Toh said.

He then rattled off a litany of “financial indicators” of the SMRT which, he said, “had been falling for five straight years.”

“Unlike other companies, SMRT cannot shed its money-losing train business,” Mr Toh said. “Yet, it is yet expected to improve reliability even as the PTC moderates fare hikes to meet the demands of commuters, some of whom even want a freeze to fare hikes until reliability improves.”

“How is that possible?” he asked.

He argued that “train fares in Singapore are low relative to gross domestic product per capita.”

Mr Toh thus called for fares to be increased, and that discounts be given to those in need.

“The rest who happily use our latest flashy iPhones and Samsungs to kill time on the trains can surely afford a fare hike,” he concluded.

The public transport operators (PTOs) make yearly application, usually towards the end of the year, for “fares review”, which the PTC will consider and decide on several months later, usually around March.

Mr Toh’s call is not new and is the latest in the last two years or so from various quarters who have also also called for higher fares for buses.

In January 204, for example, this report appeared in the TODAY newspaper:

TODAY, Jan 2014

“Rather than complain about both poor service and fare increases, perhaps it is time for a shift in commuters’ thinking towards paying even more, so that we get the transport services we deserve in a world-class city,” the writer said.

About four months later, the former chairman of the PTC, Gerard Ee, echoed the same sentiments.

Straits Times, May 2014

“At the end of the day, buses and trains are about transporting a lot of people from Point A to B as affordably as possible,” Mr Ee said. “So by that very nature, they are going to be crowded. They’re not designed for comfort.

“If you treasure your time and treasure your comfort, you pay a premium – there are premium bus services. If you value your time and comfort even more, buy a car. And then ultimately, get a chauffeur. You have to decide for yourself what it is you want.”

Straits Times, Jan 2014

But in January 2014, the PTC itself delinked the relationship between fare hikes and better service, particularly breakdowns of the system.

The PTC’s remarks were in response to public sentiments that fares should not go up when trains are still breaking down.

“[The] Public Transport Council (PTC) has said that the two issues should be kept separate,” the Straits Times reported.

Nonetheless, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in September last year that progress and improvements have been made, and that “there are not so many breakdowns as before.”

But just three months later, the TODAY newspaper reported that the “number of major MRT delays had hit a] four-year high.”

Sept 2014

There were 12 “major delays” in the first nine months of 2014 alone, the newspaper reported. This was more than the 11 for the entire year in 2011, the previous record number of delays.

And on Thursday, 30 July 2015, the Straits Times reported that there have already been “five major delays in Q1, nearly half last year’s total.”

Straits Times, 30 July 2015

“[There] were five service delays lasting more than 30 minutes between January and March this year,” the Straits Times said.

This included a disruption in February where a breakdown in the line between Yew Tee and Kranji station lasted for four hours and 38 minutes.

And earlier in July, the entire train system was shut-down for several hours due to a train fault, affecting 250,000 commuters.

Would all these problems disappear with the simple solution of increasing fares?

One would be hard-pressed to argue for such a simplistic expectation.

Yet, the truth is that much public funds have been poured into the transport system, billions in fact, and billions more have been earmarked for the same in the next decade.

And are the PTOs making losses?

If they were, there would be no justification for them to double the salary of their chief executive officer, as SMRT did this year, raising its CEO pay from S$1.2m in 2013, to $2.25m to $2.5m in 2015. (See here: “SMRT CEO paid $2.2m to $2.5m – a multifold jump in three years?“.

Source: www.theonlinecitizen.com

July 30, 2015