Damage from MRT tunnel flooding cost about $2 million: Khaw Boon Wan
The damage from the tunnel flooding between Bishan and Braddell MRT stations last October cost about $2 million, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said on Tuesday (9 January).
In a written response to Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Leon Perera, Khaw told Parliament that SMRT footed the cost, according to a report by Channel NewsAsia.
The flooding on 7 October 2017 caused a massive disruption on the North-South Line lasting about 20 hours, which affected around 250,000 commuters.
At a news conference held later in the month, Khaw lambasted the SMRT personnel in charge of anti-flooding measures at Bishan MRT. Apologising for the disruption, Khaw said that the incident was “preventable”.
SMRT concluded in November last year that 13 current and former staff were found responsible for the flooding after an investigation, and dismissed eight of them for falsification of maintenance records.
The train operator also undertook several remedial measures to prevent a recurrence of the incident, including setting up a joint readiness inspection team and engaging independent experts to improve maintenance activities.
