SMRT board names NTUC deputy to lead probe
Transport company SMRT has appointed NTUC deputy secretary-general Ong Ye Kung to head an investigation into the causes of train disruptions last week.
Ong Ye Kung, also an independent director of SMRT, will lead a team of external experts and in-house staff to conduct the investigation, said SMRT in a statement on Thursday.
This investigation will be internal, separate from the Committee of Inquiry (COI) announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last week.
The team will look into the root causes of the disruptions, adequacy of SMRT's emergency response and the required remedial actions. Results of the internal investigations will be reported to the Board and shared with the COI.
Separately, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has called for the SMRT to provide all information needed for its investigation.
In a statement on Thursday, LTA said it "requires SMRT to provide all maintenance records, operations and system logs, as well as information on its emergency response and incident management, so as to understand the likely cause(s) and contributing factors to the disruptions and the implementation of its contingency plans, and for improvements to be made.”
"The disruptions last week have shown we need to improve on our emergency response and management procedures, as well as how we communicate with commuters and the public in an incident of this scale," said SMRT.
"The Board will spare no effort and resources to ensure that SMRT earns back the confidence of the commuters and public. We apologise to the travelling public for the disruptions and inconveniences in the last week," said Koh Yong Guan, chairman of SMRT.
