LTA chief quits to join private sector
Mr Chew, who has been at the helm at LTA for less than two years, said he was leaving for “personal career development” in the private sector. The surprise resignation makes his stint among the shortest on record.
Published 7 hours ago
Christopher Tan
Senior Transport Correspondent
Land Transport Authority (LTA) chief executive Chew Men Leong has resigned, less than two years after he assumed the helm at what is arguably Singapore’s most scrutinised statutory board.
In a shock announcement to LTA’s staff of about 6,000 people yesterday, Mr Chew said he was leaving for “personal career development” in the private sector.
While he did not say where he is heading to, there is speculation that he will join the vast Singapore Technologies fold.
Mr Chew, 48, was head of national water agency PUB before moving to the LTA in October 2014. Before that, he was the Republic of Singapore Navy chief, holding the rank of rear-admiral. He took over at the LTA from Mr Chew Hock Yong, who was at the helm for four years.
The surprise resignation makes Mr Chew Men Leong’s stint as LTA chief among the shortest on record since the statutory board was formed in 1995. Former chief Ho Meng Kit left in 2005 shortly after the 2004 Nicoll Highway collapse - barely two years into the job.
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Three SMRT workers diagnosed with TB
Of the three SMRT workers diagnosed with TB, two were found to have latent TB, and the other was found to have active TB.
Published 7 hours ago
Staff of Tanah Merah station screened after colleagues found to have lung disease
Christopher Tan
Senior Transport Correspondent
Two SMRT train drivers and one crew manager have contracted tuberculosis (TB).
The Straits Times understands that the three - from Tanah Merah station - were diagnosed four to six weeks ago. Two were found to have latent TB, and the other was found to have active TB. Latent TB is not contagious, but can develop into contagious active TB if untreated.
SMRT has since carried out TB screening for its Tanah Merah personnel, but it is not known how many have been tested. Results of the screening will be out in a couple of weeks, according to sources.
SMRT spokesman Patrick Nathan said the firm, after finding out about the active TB case, worked closely with the authorities to carry out contact tracing and this is ongoing. The other two cases are not linked to the active TB one, he added.
He also said that “SMRT has also carried out extensive sanitisation of staff work areas. SMRT takes healthcare concerns very seriously and will spare no effort in taking the necessary steps to keep our staff and commuters safe.”
When contacted for comment, the Health Ministry said TB was not easily transmitted. A spokesman said: “The risk of transmission to persons who are not close contacts of a TB case - for example, through casual, brief contact - is very low. Screening is thus generally not necessary for commuters should public transport staff be infected.”
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Transactions across MRT fare gates continue despite warning
Many buyers and sellers question basis of rule, saying it is inconvenient
Laura Elizabeth Philomin
.
Published: 4:00 AM, August 8, 2016
SINGAPORE — Although the rule against transactions across train fare gates has been a long-standing one, it is business as usual for most people meeting up to close deals. Some, however, have made an effort to be more careful.
TODAY reported earlier that SBS Transit, which runs the North-East and Downtown lines, had put up signs at Beauty World station warning commuters against conducting over-the-barrier transactions between the paid and unpaid areas.
Doing business at MRT stations could earn you a fine
August 3
Under the statutes, doing so could lead to offenders being removed from the station or fined up to S$2,000.
But when TODAY visited the Beauty World, Raffles Place and City Hall stations over two days last week, 11 of the 19 transactions observed were conducted over the barrier.
When interviewed, the people who were closing deals at the stations questioned the basis for the rule and cited the inconvenience of tapping in and out for transactions that usually conclude within a minute.
“It’s a bit too stringent. I think there’s no harm letting people transact (across) the barriers,” said a buyer at Raffles Place who wanted to be known only as Mr Goh, 28.
“They’re rushing off to somewhere else, and it doesn’t make sense for people to tap out and pay whatever money they have to pay just to perform one transaction.”
A seller by the name of Mr Ng was stopped by SBS Transit staff from selling bicycle accessories over the barrier at Beauty World station, and his buyer had to exit the fare gates to complete the transaction.
“We’re trying to make some money (as a seller) and save some money (for the buyer) — have some flexibility. What’s the difference between over the gantry and here?” the 56-year-old retiree questioned.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by
sadfa
Obviously more than meets the eye la.
If spore technologies wants this guy so bad cos he’s such a fcuking military genius, garbagement will just transfer him over.
Things must be fcukin bad for him to quit n this guy in civil service so long, he must have seen tons of shit.
So wad did he see in Lta which freaked him out? And by quiting, he’s giving up close to 1 mil ok.
As if any true private sector company will want to hire a paper general.
And fcuked up media never say a thing.
Maybe he going over to take charge of SMRT under the new operating model .
Don’t know what else are they hiding ?
SMRT reports 22.9% fall in profit in Q1 2017 on losses in rail business
Posted 08 Aug 2016 18:12
SINGAPORE: Public transport operator SMRT on Monday (Aug 8) reported a 22.9 per cent fall in profit for the first quarter of its 2017 financial year.
In a media release, SMRT said its profit after tax and minority interests came in at S$15.5 million, compared to S$20.1 million in the same period a year ago. Revenue for the quarter dropped 2 per cent to S$313.9 million. SMRT said its operating expenses rose 0.8 per cent in the quarter to S$311.5 million, mainly due to higher staff costs and repairs and maintenance costs - but this was partially offset by lower energy expenditure and other operating expenses.
SMRT attributed the lower profit to a higher operating loss of S$9.4 million in its rail business, compared to a loss of S$5.3 million in the same period last year, “as a result of lower revenue due to lower average fare”.
This comes after a 1.9 per cent fare reduction which came into effect in December 2015.
SMRT added that there was a “cannibalisation effect of Downtown Line 2 operations”, and added that higher staff costs and repairs, as well as maintenance-related expenditures were causes of the losses reported in its rail business.
Downtown Line 2 is operated by competitor SBS Transit.
Among what it terms its non-rail businesses, which includes bus and taxi services as well as rental and advertising, SMRT posted a 12.3 per cent decrease in operating profit for the quarter at S$29 million. It said the drop was largely due to “lower profitability” in its bus and taxi segments.
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http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...n/3024880.html
So will the CEO of SMRT take responsibility and resign ????
MRT train refurbishment plan on hold
Published 4 hours ago
LTA looking at best treatment for older trains, including replacing them, under new rail financing framework
Christopher Tan
Senior Transport Correspondent
The authorities are looking at whether to replace old MRT trains, instead of refurbishing them, as originally planned.
This comes as the government gets ready to assume ownership of all trains from SMRT and examines what to do with the ageing ones.
In 2014, Singapore Rail Engineering, SMRT’s engineering services division, had inked a deal with Japan’s Toshiba to replace motors on 66 of its oldest trains. It recently finished doing so for one train.
But now, with SMRT and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) agreeing to shift to a new rail financing framework - in which the Government assumes ownership of all operating assets, including trains - the refurbishment works have been put on hold.
An LTA spokesman said that under the new framework, the authority would also be responsible for the expansion, replacement and refurbishment of rail operating assets.
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SBS Transit, SMRT Buses to get $7.2b in new deals to run buses
Published 5 hours ago
Govt phasing in new contracting model for 11 bus packages operated by incumbents
Christopher Tan
Senior Transport Correspondent
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has reached a multi-billion-dollar agreement with SBS Transit and SMRT Buses to run buses under a new government bus contracting model.
The transition will take effect from Sept 1, and there will be 11 bus packages under the model, the LTA said yesterday.
The packages are of varying sizes, and have different compositions of bus services with different route lengths. The authority estimated that the total contract fee for SBS Transit would come to $5.3 billion, and that for SMRT would amount to $1.9 billion.
SBS Transit operates eight of the packages with 196 bus services, and SMRT Buses operates three with 77. The packages have an operating tenure of between two and 10 years.
When the packages expire, each will be put up for competitive tendering - like the two clinched by foreign players recently.
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http://www.straitstimes.com/singapor...s-to-run-buses
So basically the 2 public transport companies become an empty shell . All assets controlled by LTA . So where does the funds come from ?
LTA might as well dissolve two companies and take over the entire operations .
Train service on East West Line briefly disrupted from Boon Lay to Joo Koon
Published Aug 11, 2016, 10:53 pm SGT
Chew Hui Min
SINGAPORE - There was no train service between Boon Lay and Joo Koon stations on the East West Line for about 20 minutes on Thursday (Aug 11) night.
The disruption was due to a track fault, SMRT said in tweet at 10.34pm.
It first said that additional 20 minutes of travelling time was required between the three stations at the west-most end of the East West Line.
SMRT announced that service had resumed at 10.46pm. However, there was additional travelling time of 15 minutes due to the earlier track fault.
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SMRT: Gas leak from train’s air-con caused smoke inside Tanjong Pagar MRT station
Published 3 hours ago
Chew Hui Min
SINGAPORE - Thick smoke was seen at the Tanjong Pagar MRT station on Monday (Aug 15) afternoon, affecting one trainload of passengers.
A leak of freon gas from the train’s air-conditioning system caused the smoke, SMRT said in a statement. No injuries were reported, said the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).
“At 2.53pm this afternoon, passengers at Tanjong Pagar MRT station were detrained from a westbound train due to a leak of freon gas from the train’s air-conditioning system,” said Ms Margaret Teo, SMRT’s head of corporate marketing and communications.
“SMRT staff switched on the tunnel ventilation system immediately to disperse the odourless gas.”
Freon, a common refrigerant, is odourless and has low toxicity. It does not catch fire.
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http://www.straitstimes.com/singapor...ar-mrt-station
Indeed real world class mrt system. First water leaked ; now smoke leaked . What next ?
Freon gas leak at Tanjong Pagar station caused by oil leak in aircon compressor
Published 4 hours ago
Royston Sim
Assistant News Editor
SINGAPORE - The freon gas leak at Tanjong Pagar station on Monday (Aug 15) afternoon was caused by an oil leak in a train’s air-conditioning compressor, said Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan.
Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday (Aug 16), Mr Khaw said preliminary investigations found that the oil leak resulted in the compressor overheating, which in turn led to the freon gas evaporating.
He was responding to Mr Sitoh Yih Pin (Potong Pasir), who had asked for an update on the incident.
Mr Khaw said engineers will examine the compressor to check what had caused the oil leak, noting that it was last checked about 10 days ago.
He said the train with the faulty compressor was a first-generation Kawasaki train.
“So the train and the air con compressors are all about almost 20-odd years by now and that’s the trouble with old parts, sometimes little problems happen,” he said.
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