SMRT to spend S$900 million to fix train problems
Transport operator SMRT Corp said on Tuesday it will spend S$900 million on the renewal and preventive maintenance of Singapore’s metro system after a series of train breakdowns in recent months.
The major projects, which will take place over eight years, include a re-signalling of the North-South and East-West Lines and a change-out of wooden sleepers along the ballasted tracks on both lines.
Interim SMRT CEO Tan Ek Kia said train disruptions to allow for the upgrading will be timed as much as possible during off-peak hours and days to minimize inconvenience to commuters.
“As the system ages, our maintenance regime needs to adapt from one that focuses on repair and overhaul, to one which also includes replacement and renewal,” he explained.
To prevent last December’s disruptions from repeating, SMRT also announced in its statement that “all the claws securing the third rail – the power rail – to the latest generation will be replaced with a new positive-locking mechanism”.
The claws in areas believed to be more susceptible to being dislodged will be changed first and nightly checks on the tracks and the interim measures announced earlier will continue, SMRT said.
New systems will be implemented to “better identify vibration issues, and minimize them if found”, it added.
The transport operator will also increase the frequency of track and third rail geometry inspections to once in every two to three months, as compared to the previous six months.
Even though “faults will arise from time to time”, Tan said he wanted to “assure everyone that we have a robust management system to identify faults; and that we thoroughly investigate each and every fault, learn what happened, and ensure that all learnings are incorporated into our maintenance cycle.”
The recent Circle Line disruption on 18 April was caused by power loss to “a computer that controls the critical signaling system”, he explained.
“SMRT has completed inspections to ensure the factors that caused this power failure will not again arise without sufficient warning.”
Tan also acknowledged that “SMRT needs to further improve its incident response procedures, particularly in informing the public about disruptions and helping commuters affected in the system”.
SMRT added that it is discussing cost-sharing arrangements with the Land Transport Authority, which owns much of Singapore's subway network.
