Train disruptions will happen from time to time: Lui Tuck Yew
As Singapore’s rail network further expands and ages and as it runs more and more train trips, “service disruptions will happen from time to time”, said Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew in Parliament on Monday.
Responding to questions from Members of Parliament following a spate of train disruptions last month, the transport minister, however, acknowledged that transport operator SMRT “could have done much better in service recovery”, particularly in providing timely information to commuters.
He said as part of its investigations, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will highlight gaps in SMRT's communication with affected commuters and work closely with transport operators to share learning experiences and improve incident management.
Lui noted SMRT’s management has already committed to review its contingency plans on a station-by-station basis and refine its command and control structure in times of disruption to better support ground staff.
He added that joint teams that LTA has set up with transport operators SMRT and SBS Transit will shift from a “find and fix” approach to a “predict and prevent” approach for the operators’ respective maintenance regimes following the completion of consultancy studies.
“Under this new approach, operators will undertake active condition monitoring of rail assets and formulate maintenance processes to optimise the performance of the assets over their life-cycle,” Lui said.
While SMRT was hit by a spate of disruptions early this year, Lui said the transport operators and LTA have made “good progress” in the past two years.
He pointed out that last year the number of train delays longer than five minutes was cut to 1.18 delays for every 100,000 kilometres travelled.
The figure is 20 per cent lower than that of the year before and lower even than the level in 2010, he said.
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