Defective SMRT trains to be repaired by 2019
(AFP file photo)
The defective SMRT trains which are being sent back to their manufacturer in China will be repaired by 2019.
Singapore’s “LTA (Land Transport Authority) has negotiated with the manufacturer and it will be able to speed up the process. Trains are being sent in batches and the rectification work will be completed in 2019,” said a posting on the Singapore government’s Factually website on Tuesday (5 July) night.
The information was attributed to the Ministry of Transport (MOT). Earlier media reports had stated that the trains would be repaired by 2023.
In the Q&A-style posting, titled “Why are MRT trains being shipped back to manufacturer?”, other issues surrounding the reported “secret recall” of a batch of China-made SMRT trains were addressed, including explanations for why the trains were covered up as they were transported in the “dead of night”.
The MOT said that the trains had to be moved at night so as to “minimise obstruction and inconvenience to road users” and were covered “to protect the trains, just as how we would bubble-wrap or enclose in boxes and styrofoam-pad electronic equipment and machinery that we want to transport overseas”.
Regarding the safety of the trains, the MOT said that the defects – which were discovered in 2013 – are “superficial cracks (like those that show up on the walls of a new house)” and that they are “not safety-critical”.
“LTA also commissioned an external third-party assessment in 2013 which had confirmed that the trains are safe to operate. As advised by the third-party assessment, there has also been close monitoring of the crack propagation rate,” said the MOT.
Given that the trains are still under warranty, the LTA is sending them back in small batches to “ensure we get the value for our money,” said the ministry.
