- Stop switch failed
- Each float switch failed
- The high level water alert switch failed
Khaw apologises for NSL flooding, says SMRT’s Bishan maintenance team ‘has failed us’
By Louisa Tang
Published: 6:30 PM, October 16, 2017
Updated: 6:30 PM, October 16, 2017
SINGAPORE – In his first comments on the unprecedented flooding-induced train outage on Oct 7, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan apologised to commuters but pinned the blame squarely on operator SMRT’s maintenance regime.
“The bottomline is that MRT tunnels should not be flooded,” he said at a media briefing on Monday (Oct 16).
Noting that the holding tank reservoir under the train tracks has a 5,000 cubic metres capacity, dwarfing the 640 cubic metres of rainfall near Bishan that day, Mr Khaw added: “The SMRT team in charge of maintaining flooding system at Bishan has failed us.”
SMRT’s head honchos, including group president and chief executive officer Desmond Kuek and chairman Seah Moon Ming, also apologised for the disruption.
Mr Kuek also acknowledged criticism that has surfaced about SMRT’s work culture. “Indeed, many of our major disruptions in the past have been attributed in some part, or all, to human error or failure. We regret that this is so,” he told a press briefing.
He assured that the rail operator would “redouble efforts to instill a strong culture of operational discipline in our workforce”, as well as strengthen engineering and maintenance capabilities to serve an ageing and expanding MRT network.
Train service for six stations along the North-South Line was down both ways for more than 20 hours overnight that weekend, after flooding in the tunnel between Bishan and Braddell MRT stations. Thousands of commuters were affected by the outage, which was one of the worst since the 2011 disruptions that led to a Committee of Inquiry.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) issued a statement after normal train service resumed in the afternoon of Oct 8, saying the flooding was caused by the water pump system at the tunnel failing.
At the media briefing on Monday, the extent of how poorly the anti-flooding system – installed in 2011 – was maintained emerged.
The storm water pit at Bishan was found lined with sludge, despite quarterly checks.
continue reading here :
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore...ise-and-pledge
Hello Mr Khaw don’t just blame the workers the management ; LTA and you should also take responsibility for what happen ? Will you resign and your assistant resign to take full responsibility for what happen ?
Can the honourable minister assures us that there will be no more breakdown ? Also is it safe to travel on the trains ? Will LTA impose a fine on SMRT ?
SMRT takes ‘full responsibility’ for tunnel flooding, says CEO Desmond Kuek
SMRT CEO Desmond Kuek apologised to commuters at a media conference on Monday (Oct 16) on the MRT tunnel flooding incident on Oct 7. (Photo: Mediacorp)
16 Oct 2017 06:30PM (Updated: 16 Oct 2017 07:12PM)
SINGAPORE: SMRT CEO Desmond Kuek apologised to commuters affected by the Oct 7 weekend disruption caused by a flooded tunnel on the North-South Line (NSL) in a press conference on Monday (Oct 16) that detailed the causes of the incident.
Addressing criticism that SMRT has received about its work culture, Mr Kuek said that “deep-seated cultural issues” remain within the company that need more time to root out, despite some progress being made.
“Indeed, many of our major disruptions in the past have been attributed in some part, or all, to human error or failure,” Mr Kuek said. " We regret that this is so."
He said that “nine in 10 of our people are incredibly committed, professional and commuter-focused”.
In response to reporters’ queries, he said one area that needs to be strengthened is the “level of accountability by supervisors”.
This includes “the level of ownership and responsibility over what’s not working well … The openness in which some issues are reported”, he added.
Referring to the replacement of SMRT’s vice-president for maintenance after the incident, Mr Kuek said it is not “just one person’s fault, but because he’s the head of this particular function we removed him from his responsibilities there … and put somebody else in charge for the time being.”
Mr Kuek added that he takes full responsibility for the incident: “On behalf of all of us in SMRT, I apologise to members of the public who were affected by last weekend’s disruption. We are all deeply pained by what happened.”
SMRT CHAIRMAN APOLOGISES
Speaking before Mr Kuek, chairman of SMRT Corporation and SMRT Trains Seah Moon Ming bowed as he apologised to commuters.
“SMRT has failed to prevent this incident from happening. SMRT takes full responsibility for this incident,” Mr Seah said. “SMRT wants to, and aims to make things right for our commuters.”
He added: “We know we have disappointed you and affected your life with each MRT service disruption. I ask for your patience and kind understanding, to allow us to work towards providing you with a better and smoother commuter experience.”
Read more at
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...ys-ceo-9315322
So you and your management team should also resign to take full responsibility and accountability .
SMRT CEO Desmond Kuek breaks silence, addresses public
The last time he was quoted publicly talking about his company was a full month ago.
By Jeanette Tan | 24 mins
The last time we heard from SMRT CEO Desmond Kuek was on September 15, when he was quoted about his company winning a tender to operate the Thomson-East Coast Line.
In the month that has followed, we can’t even keep track of the number of MRT service disruptions, delays and breakdowns we’ve seen. But not a word from him.
Not till now. Finally, the man we’ve all been longing to hear from has spoken.
On Monday afternoon, he, together with Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan and a group of other high-level staff gathered to address the media on the October 7 tunnel-flooding incident that stalled train services between Ang Mo Kio and Newton stations for almost an entire day.
It was so bad that the Singapore Civil Defence Force had to be called in to help with tackling the flood, working through the night to do so.
continue reading here :
https://mothership.sg/2017/10/smrt-c...resses-public/
He should be sacked .
‘Old system’ of penalties and fines led to adversarial relationship between regulator and operator: Khaw
While the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will decide on penalties for train operator SMRT, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said he prefers to avoid the “old system of penalties and fines” provided by the existing licensing framework. Photo: Koh Mui Fong/TODAY
By Valerie Koh
Published: 12:00 AM, October 17, 2017
Updated: 12:46 AM, October 17, 2017
SINGAPORE — While the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will decide on penalties for train operator SMRT, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said he prefers to avoid the “old system of penalties and fines” provided by the existing licensing framework.
“If you ask me, my preference is not to go back to this old system of penalties and fines because it created a very adversarial relationship between the regulator and the operator,” said Mr Khaw at a joint media briefing with SMRT on Monday (Oct 16).
The acrimonious relationship between both parties was a stumbling block to achieving excellence, he said. Mr Khaw took on the transport portfolio in Oct 2015, a month after SMRT was fined S$5.4 million for the Republic’s worst train disruption that affected 413,000 commuters in July 2015. In July 2012, SMRT was fined S$2 million for two disruptions in December 2011 that affected 221,000 commuters.
Under the Rapid Transit Systems Act, operators can be fined up to S$1 million or 10 per cent of their annual fare revenue for the affected line, whichever is higher.
“Two years ago, the immediate reaction was — who’s to blame?… In such a relationship, it’s always, ‘I’m not responsible, it’s not me, it’s a design problem.’ Then (the) design (team) says, ‘No, this is (a) maintenance problem.’ And everything just ding-dongs,” said Mr Khaw.
In the past two years, he has worked to bring regulator and operator together as a team to address major and minor problems together, he said.
The aviation industry pioneered such a working relationship, forming joint committees to investigate aviation incidents, he added.
The LTA will mull over the facts of the case and the mitigating factors to mete out penalties for the flooding incident between Bishan and Braddell MRT station on Oct 7.
“For this particular issue, that’s for the LTA board to decide,” said Mr Khaw.
Days after the flooding incident last week, it was reported that SMRT replaced a senior staff member in the maintenance team. Mr Ng Tek Poo, the vice-president for maintenance, was replaced by Mr Siu Yow Wee, the director of station operations, with immediate effect.
At the media briefing, SMRT chairman Seah Moon Ming said he made the decision to remove the team leader immediately, without naming anyone. Team members and their superiors will also see their bonuses being cut.
“Because he is the head of this particular function, we removed him from his responsibilities there. It allows us to investigate the entire workflow and processes and culture in that sub-unit in a more open and transparent way… but (he) may not end up as (the only) person,” said SMRT group chief executive Desmond Kuek.
Internal investigations continue but SMRT has pinpointed several weak areas: The level of accountability by supervisors, the level of ownership over “what is not working well”, and the openness in reporting issues on the ground. These are areas in which the operator will be improving, pledged Mr Kuek.
continue reading here :
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore...r-and-operator
Should fine SMRT at least 2 million for the major disruption . Should sack Desmond Kuek and Lee Ling Wee . The entire board of SMRT should take a pay cut of 30% . The transport minister should resign to take full responsibility as people lose trust in PAP . The new train model simply does not work . Should not have price fare increase for train rides for the next 5 years .
‘Bad luck’ that DTL disruption happened during open house, says Transport Minister Khaw
16 Oct 2017 09:54PM (Updated: 16 Oct 2017 10:00PM)
SINGAPORE: It was “bad luck” that train service was temporarily disrupted during Sunday’s preview of new stations along the Downtown Line (DTL), said Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan on Monday (Oct 16).
A train fault near Hillview station suspended train service between Bukit Panjang and Beauty World stations on DTL2 for about 40 minutes, while services along DTL3 were also affected.
Still, the DTL remains one of the most reliable lines in terms of mean kilometre between failure (MKBF), Mr Khaw noted during a question and answer session after a news conference on the North-South Line tunnel flooding incident on Oct 7.
The DTL, which is operated by SBS Transit, clocked an MKBF of more than 1 million kilometres in a mid-year report by the Land Transport Authority (LTA).
“I hope commuters realise that high MKBF doesn’t mean no delay," said Mr Khaw. “Sometimes things will happen … For it to happen when we are doing an open house, that is bad luck.
“But I was happy to read that the recovery effort was quite speedy. And I hope we do appreciate some of these improvements that have been made in the system - that people are able to go in, identify the fault, correct it and and fix it.”
He added: “So what are the odds for bad things to happen, when you are celebrating good things?”
Citing an article in The Economist, Mr Khaw said there was “a rational basis for it”.
“Supposing the line is very reliable and you hit 1 million km MKBF,” he explained. “You praise them, but what does it mean? When you reach a million, the risk of you getting a failure is anytime now, unless you achieve 2 million km MKBF.
“When you’ve just achieved 1 million, then the likelihood of a delay happening the next day or next week is very high. That is how things work. It is statistical.”
Mr Khaw added: “But of course, we should all try to strive towards perfection, meaning infinite MKBF. We know it’s very difficult, but we should look at the outcome versus the current status quo. Are we improving?
Read more at
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...e-says-9316350
Is it really bad luck Mr Khaw ? Can you take responsibility or not that there is indeed something wrong with your mrt system ?
SMRT apologises: Couldn’t someone have spoken in the past 9 days?
Negative impressions have already been formed and hardened in the meantime.
By Sulaiman Daud | 5 hours
On Saturday Oct. 7, the North-South MRT line was flooded, with one train left stranded. It took the combined efforts of SMRT, the SCDF, and PUB to drain the water out of the tunnels and restore service to the stricken line by the afternoon the next day.
It was nine days later that a press conference was held at the SMRT Bishan Depot to explain how and why the flood occurred. The big names present included:
•Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan
•LTA CEO Ngien Hoon Ping
•LTA Deputy Chief Executive (Infrastructure & Development) Chua Chong Kheng
•SMRT Chairman Seah Moon Ming
•SMRT President and Group CEO Desmond Kuek
•SMRT Trains CEO, Lee Ling Wee
•Chairperson of Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport and MP Sitoh Yih-Pin
Both Seah and Kuek took responsibility for the disruption, apologised, and asked for the public’s patience while maintenance and upgrading work was carried out. Seah even took a bow to show his deep sense of regret.
After the press conference concluded, however, one nagging question still remained. Why didn’t someone say something sooner?
Khaw was hosting an ASEAN meeting
Khaw began his speech by addressing the delay in informing the public.
“I could have done so last week, in two days as soon as we established the facts. But I was really very busy hosting the ASEAN meeting, and that’s why we waited until today. But whatever follow up action that need to be done had started and proceeded immediately after the incident. So nothing was being held up because of this delay.”
The meeting Khaw was referring to was the 23rd ASEAN Transport Ministers Meeting & Associated Dialogue Partner Meetings (with China, Japan and South Korea) that took place on Oct. 12 and 13. It was Singapore and Khaw’s turn to host.
Despite this, couldn’t Khaw have posted an update, however brief, about the ongoing repairs and investigations at Bishan MRT station?
Although Khaw is active on social media, he did not post an update until the press conference on Oct. 16. That’s a period of silence of nine days on the incident.
Bear in mind that he also posted about matters not related to the ASEAN meeting, such as this one about transport-related start-ups on Oct. 13.
continue reading here :
https://mothership.sg/2017/10/smrt-a...e-past-9-days/
So do you still want to vote for PAP ?
Apology a ‘turning point’ for SMRT, workers’ morale a concern, experts say
By Kenneth Cheng
AND
Louisa Tang
Published: 7:10 AM, October 17, 2017
Updated: 8:18 AM, October 17, 2017
SINGAPORE — Transport analysts have expressed hopes that the apologies by leaders of SMRT and Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan for the recent services disruption on the North-South Line will mark a “turning point” in the company’s train operations.
They also highlighted that the morale of SMRT employees would be a major issue that the rail operator has to handle.
At a media briefing on Monday (Oct 16), the SMRT and Land Transport Authority (LTA) released their findings on why and how MRT tunnels along a part of the line were flooded after a downpour on Oct 7, causing a shutdown of train services at six stations that affected about 250,000 commuters.
Mr Khaw blamed the SMRT team in charge of maintaining the anti-flooding system for the incident, but urged fairness for rail workers who have been “working their guts out” to raise MRT reliability. SMRT’s top management said that the bonuses of the team at fault would be affected.
Experts interviewed by TODAY had mixed views about imposing penalties on the company under the licensing framework, with some pointing to systemic issues that have not been ironed out by SMRT president and group chief executive officer Desmond Kuek in the few years that he has been at the helm.
Mr Khaw said at the press briefing that his preference was not to return to a system of penalties and fines because it created a “very adversarial” relationship between the regulator and operator, but added that the decision rested with the LTA.
Under the Rapid Transit Systems Act, operators can be fined up to S$1 million or one-tenth of their yearly fare revenue for the affected line, whichever is higher.
Dr Walter Theseira, a transport economist from the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), said that the main problem with the framework is that when an operator is penalised, money meant for train operations is taken away.
Although the framework allows for the operator’s licence to be suspended or revoked, he noted that it is not easy to find a new operator with similar expertise to run a rail line.
“It’s a complex problem, and part of what Minister Khaw is alluding to, is that he ultimately wants to look at whether these penalties are productive, in the sense that (the public) gets what they want — better behaviour or more attention to maintenance,” Dr Theseira said.
continue reading here :
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore...rn-experts-say
Talk so much for what ? Can you at least please provide alternation solutions what they can do to improve the situation on the ground ? The answer is so obvious . The people in charge do not know how to solve the many disruptions period . They got to be sacked . The workers are not to be totally blamed .
Here’s how SMRT’s failsafe measures failed during the North-South line flood
Looks like Engineering 101 is harder than it seems.
By Sulaiman Daud | 38 mins
According to Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan, the flooding of the North-South Line on Oct. 7 was “preventable” and “not excusable” because the engineering behind it was simple enough for a basic 101 class.
“The flooding problem is not excusable because it’s so simple. We learn it as engineering students, Engineering 101. I know how to design a pit. How to calculate capacity. Those are simple stuff, the students can do. You should not have failed there.”
Unfortunately, it appeared that SMRT would get a failing mark in that class, despite the numerous failsafe measures that were in place. Here’s a breakdown of what went wrong.
What went wrong
Bishan MRT station, like all stations, is equipped with a small Tunnel Sump Pit that is meant to drain away water from condensation and cleaning works.
But unlike other stations, it is also equipped with a tank that can contain over 5,000m³ of water. The tank is linked to three pumps, each capable of draining water out of the tank at a rate of 85 litres (0.085m³) per second.
To prevent the pumps from running when the tank is empty and wearing them out, a stop switch is located at the bottom of the tank. The pumps can only activate when the stop switch is submerged in water.
First of all, the pumps were checked and found to be working fine. But due to the build-up of sludge and silt at the bottom of the pit, the stop switch was not working. This meant that the pumps did not activate even when water entered the pit.
Photo from LTA.
Above the stop switch, three float switches are placed at ascending heights as you go up the tank. The pumps are supposed to activate when each float switch is submerged in water.
But for some reason or another, the float switches did not activate the pumps even when the switches were submerged. And so the water level in the tank rose steadily.
Screenshot from SMRT.
Near the top of the tank lies the high level water alert switch. It is designed to run separately and independently from the rest of the tank’s systems. This is so that even if all the other switches failed, the alert switch would serve as a final stopgap.
If the water level somehow got high enough to reach the alert switch, a signal would be sent to SMRT’s Operations Control Centre, so that staff would be alerted of the impending flood.
However, the high level water alert switch with its independent system also failed, for unknown reasons.
continue reading here :
https://mothership.sg/2017/10/heres-...th-line-flood/
Well written article . Looks like somebody did not do their job well .
SMRT Corp is a weird entity
SMRT is accountable to the public but it doesn’t have to act like it is.
By Belmont Lay | 18 mins
Very few people are going to say this publicly, so here goes: SMRT Corp is a weird entity.
But because it is a company derived from the Singapore way of doing things, it might appear normal.
However, it is not.
Here’s why.
One year after delisting
SMRT was delisted from the Singapore stock exchange on Oct. 31, 2016. That was almost one year ago.
It was listed for 16 years.
Once delisted, SMRT was freed from the short-term pressures of meeting shareholders’ expectations.
The delisting was also to enable SMRT to focus on serving the public, without the distractions of being a listed company.
So, the next question to ask is: Did delisting nationalise SMRT or privatise it?
The answer is: Depending on how you see it.
Privatised or nationalised?
The main shareholder of SMRT now is state investment firm Temasek Holdings, which bought out the corporation.
SMRT also sold its operating assets to the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to become an asset-light company in the so-called New Rail Financing Framework.
LTA is, therefore, the manager of all of Singapore’s rail projects.
This means that SMRT as the transport operator cannot answer questions about infrastructure because it is not involved in the construction stage.
It is, however, responsible for maintaining the operating assets and is audited by the regulator, which is LTA.
Part of the state?
Still with me? Good.
With delisting, the lines are much clearer. Sort of.
Whatever future profits SMRT makes will go to Temasek.
Since Temasek is a state vehicle, in effect, profits are returned to the people of Singapore.
Temasek pays dividends to the Finance Ministry, and the money is used to fund public projects.
Everybody in Singapore became a de facto shareholder of SMRT as a result.
Moreover, under the new rail financing framework and government bus contracting system, taxpayers who are wealthier subsidise services used by the masses.
Previously, SMRT had been paying half of its net earnings as dividends to shareholders. This has led to accusations that it had been enriching its shareholders at the expense of commuters.
But, moving forward, SMRT’s margins are going to be smaller.
With delisting, its margin, a.k.a. earnings before interest and taxes, is capped at 5 percent in the new framework — lower than its historical margins.
continue reading here :
Netizens savagely rip apart Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan and SMRT CEO’s apologies
October 17, 2017
In the country’s first train disruption due to flooding, six stations were shut down – affecting a quarter of a million commuters.
The Minister, Quek and Seah apologised to the public in a press conference yesterday evening.
Khaw blamed the flooding on poor maintenance, explaining that the “anti-flooding system there was poorly maintained” and caused rainwater to accumulate.
The Minister, however, asserted that the flood system is sound:
“The Bishan flooding system was designed for one in a hundred years. So our study, which is still ongoing, is ‘Are you sure that is adequate?’ But for the incident that happened on October 7, it is much more than adequate, nothing to do with these extremes of weathers – it is just poor maintenance.”
Khaw also revealed that LTA and SMRT were due to replace the pumps on the system on 29 Sept but delayed making the changes for more than a week, when the flooding hit on 7 Oct.
“So we are late by a few days. Had they proceeded to replace (the pumps) this thing might not even have happened. But I suppose that is life.”
Adding that the “sad and unnecessary” incident has “pushed back the recovery of public confidence” in the MRT system, he apologised:
“We are all sorry it did… Whatever follow-up action which needs to be done, has already started. Nothing has been covered up.”
Desmond Quek, on the other hand, appeared to blame “deep-seated cultural issues” within SMRT for the service disruptions and noted:
“There has been criticism about SMRT’s work culture. Indeed, many of our major disruptions in the past have been attributed, in some part or all, to human error or failure. We regret that this is so.
“Much progress has been made with the inculcation of a positive work culture in the workforce. But there remain some deep-seated cultural issues within the company that has needed more time than anticipated to root out.”
The CEO who has helmed SMRT for the past five years, and took a $500,000 pay cut last year as SMRT service disruptions grew, added:
“We are determined to get there and encouraged by the progress already made. But for the times that we have not been able to catch the falling balls in time, we are sorry for the inconvenience it has caused you and resolve to learn the lessons and do better. Over the past five years, we have made tremendous progress but also some mistakes.
“Regardless whether our issues are viewed by others as inherited, structural or cultural – we make no excuses. I take full responsibility for all that has happened under my watch as the overall Group Chief Executive.”
Seah Moon Ming bowed and apologised to commuters as well:
“SMRT has failed to prevent this incident from happening. SMRT takes full responsibility for this incident.”
Netizens, however, remain unfazed.
continue reading here :