A fussy LRT system in need of overhaul
Christopher Tan
Senior Transport Correspondent
Published 8 hours ago
The latest breakdown on the Bukit Panjang LRT appears eerily familiar. There was a track fault on Tuesday, at around 10pm, near Choa Chu Kang station. There was no service between the Bukit Panjang and Choa Chu Kang stations, effectively severing rail link to the MRT network that takes residents to and from other parts of Singapore.
The fault was fixed just after midnight. But in the wee hours of yesterday morning, the operator discovered that the current collector devices on 15 trains had been damaged by the track fault. These were apparently replaced.
But when service resumed, it soon became clear all was still not well. SMRT decided to shut down the 17-year-old line to do a thorough check, suspecting that the crippled trains could have done some damage to other parts of the track.
The Bukit Panjang LRT had 10 major breakdowns last year that lasted over 30 minutes. In comparison, the North-South and East-West MRT lines, which are much longer and operate at a much higher frequency and load, had seven. Here are six recent incidents that hit the Bukit Panjang LRT system:
JULY 2016
A train fails to stop at three stations, scaring commuters. The incident was traced to a fault in its antenna, which ensures the automated train stops accurately at each station.
JULY 2016
SMRT reveals that the entire first batch of 19 United States-made Bombardier trains on the line had developed cracks. It says the defects were discovered last year.
APRIL 2016
A power dip at a substation in Buona Vista causes a trip that shuts down stretches of the North-South and East-West lines, the Circle Line and the Bukit Panjang LRT.
JANUARY 2016
A train door opens while the vehicle is in motion, causing panic on board. The incident occurs after a signalling fault forces staff to override the driverless system and drive the trains manually.
APRIL 2015
A dislodged current collector shoe causes a 11/2-hour breakdown.
MARCH 2015
An electrical fire causes the line to be shut down for 24 hours. Investigations indicate that a tie-breaker, a type of circuit breaker, overheated.
Five years ago, a similar set of circumstances had hit the North-South line, with far greater consequences. On the evening of Dec 15, 2011, trains on Singapore’s oldest line ground to a halt, affecting tens of thousands of commuters. The fault was later traced to a damaged third rail which supplies power to the trains.
Damage sustained by trains’ current collector shoes that night, however, went undetected. This led to another massive breakdown on the morning of Dec 17. The Prime Minister called for a public inquiry, which found that SMRT’s maintenance lapses were the main reasons for the two breakdowns (which have since been superseded by an incident of a much larger scale on July 7, 2015, when both the North-South and East-West lines broke down, and nearly half a million commuters were stranded).
continue reading here :
Track fault disrupts Bukit Panjang LRT services for 6 hours
Published 8 hours ago
Zhaki Abdullah
The troubled Bukit Panjang LRT line faced yet another setback when train services to and from Choa Chu Kang were disrupted for about six hours from 10.20am yesterday.
Operator SMRT apologised for the inconvenience caused to thousands of commuters who were affected.
The culprit was a signal rail joint on the track near Choa Chu Kang station that was damaged on Tuesday evening.
This caused the current collector devices, which serve to transfer power and signals from the tracks to the trains, on several train cars to dislodge as they moved over the damaged joint.
As a result, services between the Bukit Panjang and Choa Chu Kang stations were first halted on Tuesday at 10pm for around two hours.
continue reading here :
SMRT bendy bus extricated from field at Kim Keat Avenue after being stuck for 10 hours
Published 4 hours ago
Updated 3 hours ago
Annabeth Leow
Jalelah Abu Baker
SINGAPORE - An SMRT bendy bus was stuck on a field behind Block 195, Kim Keat Avenue, for about 10 hours since midnight on Thursday (Sept 29).
The wheels of the bus appeared to have sunk into the soft earth. Workers from a tow truck company, who were on the scene, tried unsuccessfully several times to reach the bus with tow vehicles.
Mr Seah Hui Chou, a manager from People’s Vehicle Recovery Service, said that his team would attempt the “rougher” method of pulling the bus out of the earth, as opposed to trying to level the bus so that it can be driven out.
Workers attached a chain to a part of the rear end of the chassis, which has a risk of being damaged from the procedure. Engineers from SMRT gave the green light for this to be done.
The bus was finally removed from the mud around 10.10am. An SMRT staff member drove it out of the field onto the road, and it was towed away.
continue reading here :
Majority of SMRT shareholders vote in favour of rail asset sale, Temasek buyout
By Calvin Hui
Posted 29 Sep 2016 17:32
Updated 29 Sep 2016 18:28
SINGAPORE: A total of 98.84 per cent of public transport operator SMRT’s shareholders voted in favour of selling the company’s operating assets to the Government on Thursday (Sep 29).
The vote was held at an extraordinary general meeting called by SMRT on Thursday.
SMRT’s sale of its train licenses and operating assets to the Land Transport Authority comes as part of the New Rail Financing Framework (NRFF).
TEMASEK BUYOUT APPROVED
Minority SMRT shareholders also voted to accept Temasek’s S$1.18 billion offer to buy out the transport operator at S$1.68 a share. A total of 84.4 per cent of the shareholders were in favour of the buyout. Temasek was not included in this vote.
State investment firm Temasek holds 54.2 per cent of total shares, and had earlier indicated that it will accept the NRFF. The buyout was offered in the form of a scheme of arrangement.
For the buyout to be completed, a simple majority of those in attendance had to be met. Those voting yes should also represent at least 75 per cent of the total value of shares held by those present at the meeting.
Temasek plans to delist SMRT and take it private. The sale of SMRT’s train licenses and assets will cost the Government S$1.06 billion, although no dividend will be paid out to shareholders.
continue reading here :
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...e/3166256.html
Voting also got technical glitches .
Yeah right take the money and run. Where does LTA take the money from ?
Delisting SMRT: Transition that is long overdue
Christopher Tan
Senior Transport Correspondent
Published 5 hours ago
SMRT Corp should not have been publicly listed in the first place.
Readers may recall that I have written time and again about how it is extremely difficult for a public transport operator to serve three masters: regulator, commuter and shareholder.
Quite often, as in SMRT’s case, it ends up serving none very well.
Not that it is impossible, as demonstrated by Hong Kong’s MTR Corp. But MTR operates on a different model, one that allows it to defray operating costs from property development returns.
In Singapore, the Government prefers to assume the responsibility of building transport infrastructure, and channel the yields from property development along transport nodes back to the state.
continue reading here :
Shareholders’ aye to delisting SMRT
Published 5 hours ago
Minority shareholders of SMRT Corp gave a resounding go-ahead for it to be delisted from the stock exchange in a landmark decision yesterday, paving the way for the transport operator to return to state ownership after 16 years.
At a Scheme of Arrangement meeting at The Star Performance Arts Centre in Buona Vista, 84.83 per cent of 4,417 shareholders present - voting in person or by proxy - were in favour of selling their shares to majority shareholder Temasek Holding for $1.68 apiece. In total, they represent 92.89 per cent of the shares held by minority shareholders who voted.
Temasek, which owns about 54 per cent of SMRT, was not entitled to vote as it was the offerer.
The scheme will now be brought to the High Court for its approval. If approved, SMRT expects the arrangement to become effective on Oct 21.
Shareholders will be paid for their shares by Nov 1, and SMRT will be delisted thereafter.
At an extraordinary general meeting at the same venue just before the Scheme meeting, shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of SMRT selling its operating assets to the Land Transport Authority for about $1 billion.
continue reading here :
Social media has field day after SMRT bus gets stuck in mud
Posted 29 Sep 2016 22:22
Updated 29 Sep 2016 22:34
SINGAPORE: The sight of a lone SMRT bus stuck for hours in a field between HDB blocks at Kim Keat Avenue saw Netizens wheeling out all manner of jibes on Thursday (Sep 29).
The driver of the bendy bus had taken a wrong turn and attempted to make a U-turn on an open field, but the wheels of the vehicle sank into the mud, and it was only towed away more than 10 hours later.
Many social media users noticed a decal on the bus advertising the President’s Challenge, which fittingly read: “You helped him when he was facing life’s challenges . "
continue reading here :
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...d/3166538.html
Singapore netcitizens sure got a good sense of humour .
SBS Transit bus stuck in tennis court at Yio Chu Kang; second incident of wayward bus in 2 days
Published 42 min ago
Chew Hui Min
SINGAPORE - A public bus has ended up in an unlikely place - the second time this has happened in two days.
An SBS Transit bus was found in a tennis court next to Yio Chu Kang MRT station on Friday (Sept 30) evening.
The bus appears to have crashed through a fence. SBS Transit said it was “stunned”, but no one was hurt in the accident.
“We are stunned that this has happened and will certainly be launching an investigation into it,” said Ms Tammy Tan, senior vice-president of corporate communications.
“We are, however, thankful that no one was on the tennis court and no passengers were on board at that time.”
continue reading here :
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapor...yward-bus-in-2
Now buses also have problem .
Man trapped under double-decker bus in accident on Hougang Avenue 9
Published 1 hour ago
Chew Hui Min
SINGAPORE - A man was trapped under a bus after an accident on Hougang Avenue 9 on Friday (Sept 30).
The double-decker bus, service number 72, knocked into the pedestrian at about 10.30am.
The 51-year-old man, dressed in a T-shirt and a pair of bermudas, was smeared with blood and had a look of pain on his face in photos submitted by a Shin Min Daily News reader.
There was a web of cracks on the bus’ windscreen and blood was left on the road after the man was freed.
A number of passers-by stopped to help, said Mr Bernard Chua, 45, who was walking to work when he witnessed the accident.
Mr Chua called the police and used his newspaper to shield the victim from the hot sun, he told Shin Min Daily News.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said that the victim’s right leg was trapped under the bus.
The man was freed by SCDF and was conscious as he was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
continue reading here :
Downtown Line disrupted on Tuesday morning due to platform screen door fault
The broken platform screen door at Sixth Avenue station on the Downtown Line.ST PHOTO: JOYCE FANG
The Downtown Line experienced a service disruption on Tuesday morning.
Published 1 hour ago
Updated 6 min ago
Derek Wong
Kok Xing Hui
SINGAPORE - Service on the Downtown Line was disrupted on Tuesday (Oct 4) morning due to a platform screen door fault which occurred at the Sixth Avenue station.
A picture tweeted by a commuter showed a dislodged platform door with cracked glass.
Train service was halted between the Sixth Avenue and King Albert Park stations and free bus service was provided by SBS between the Botanic Gardens and Beauty World stations.
Commuters tweeted that they had to wait up to 20 minutes for their train and large crowds amassed along the line at stations like Bukit Panjang.
continue reading here :
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapor...een-door-fault
Even new line also got problem . Now doors also have problem .
