By The Workers' Party said it is "deeply concerned" about the frequency of MRT train disruptions on the lines managed by SMRT Corporation and particularly the way the transport operator managed the massive breakdown on Thursday evening.
In a statement on Saturday, the opposition party asked if the Land Transport Authority, as regulator of MRT operators, could have been more vigilant in ensuring the quality of service and safety standards, including train maintenance and operations, were met by SMRT.
"We are concerned that the apparent increasing frequency of train service disruptions may be reflective of much deeper infrastructural and technical problems plaguing the 24-year old NS-EW (North-South East-West) lines," the party said.
Three train disruptions hit commuters this past week with the second on Thursday evening affecting an estimated 127,000 people.
The WP said, "We question whether these service disruptions were due to insufficient
investments in maintenance and upgrades, considering that the MRT system
has come under heavy strain over the past 10 years due to the rapid
increase in population and ridership.
"If so, were the lack of essential
investments a result of pressure on the public listed MRT operators to
minimise costs and maximise profits for the benefit of their
shareholders, at the expense of the 2.3 million commuters?"
"A more immediate concern is the apparent inability of the MRT operators
and the relevant government agencies to deal with crises of this scale,
despite several large scale civil emergency exercises held in recent
years, like Exercise Northstar. We dread to think how much worse the
situation could be in the event of a terrorist attack or train
collision," it said.
Meanwhile, in a letter to the public dated Friday, non-constituency Member of Parliament of the Singapore People's Party Lina Chiam urged top management of SMRT "to be held to full account for these incidents, including the possibility for those responsible for serious security lapses to resign."
She pointed out that even if the breakdowns were beyond SMRT's control, the emergency contingency measures taken were "absolutely appalling" as some commuters were left to suffocate in trains.
Following "incidents of major concern" such as the taxi fare hikes,
she also called on the government to conduct a comprehensive review of
Singapore's transport system and policy.
Similarly, another opposition party, the Reform Party, called for a "Commission of Inquiry" to look into the causes and handling of the breakdown of SMRT's service.
In a statement, the party's secretary-general, Kenneth Jeyaratnam, said, "Without pre-judging the results of the inquiry it is clear that SMRT’s current resources are stretched to breaking point by the government’s decision to increase our population so drastically through immigration while neglecting to invest in adequate infrastructure."
He demanded that Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew "should not try to evade responsibility for this fiasco by passing the buck to the CEO of SMRT."
He also pointed out, "In addition the management of Temasek, which owns SMRT, including the CEO, Madam Ho Ching, the PM, who is the Chairman of Temasek and the Finance Minister should also be held responsible. Temasek as the majority shareholder and appointer of the bulk of SMRT’s board ultimately has responsibility and control over SMRT’s investment decisions and long-term plans."
Its immediate task: to look into reasons for the breakdown and to see if the system can be improved or if the problem is more systemic.The committee will be chosen in the next few weeks.
Speaking after a briefing by the Land Transport Authority officials after another breakdown -- this time on Saturday morning -- PM Lee said SMRT had to begin restoring public confidence in its system.
"What is important is for us now to get to the bottom of the matter and get the system up and running safely again," he was quoted as saying by the paper.
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