East-West Line break down during rush hours again
November 22, 2017
A train fault at Clementi station has resulted in severe overcrowding along the East-West Line (EWL) at around 5.30pm during the peak hour evening today (Nov 22). Queues stretching as far as 300m can be seen at Buona Vista station, and all stations including the North-South Line and Circle Line are also overcrowded. SMRT has chosen to cover up the train breakdown incident at Clementi and made no public announcement informing commuters of possible delays.
According to commuters, SMRT made inaccurate local announcements over the public address system calling for 10 minutes delay, then revise it to 20 minutes.
The fault came after Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan made a rare appearance yesterday, again in his usual denial fashion, claiming that rail reliability has made “good progress”. According to the Minister, the power station was not able to handle the increased train frequency to accommodate the overpopulation during peak hours and hence power faults have been increasing.
In recent months, SMRT have been intermittently skipping public announcements of train delays to improve its rail reliability statistics.
continue reading here :
https://statestimesreview.com/2017/1...h-hours-again/
How come no public announcement on social media by SMRT ????
WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO HIDE ???
Quote:
Originally Posted by
KelongPresident
Really I was stuck at Clementi last evening with big crowds . Wonder why SMRT did not make public announcements even on social media ? Wasted 45 mins of my precious time .
Now no updates on their social media platforms. Guess everything must be fine .
SMRT Project Manager likens commuters who complain about MRT disruptions to “terrorists”
November 23, 2017
An SMRT project manager, Indira Devi, has likened people who complain about persistent MRT disruptions as “terrorists” in a Facebook post yesterday.
This comes after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan and the top brass of transport operator SMRT have come out to express their dissapointment over the issues plaguing the public train system, in the wake of the Oct 7 MRT tunnel flooding incident that inconvenienced a quarter of a million commuters and the MRT collision last week where at least 38 people were injured.
Showering praises upon SMRT CEO Desmond Quek, Devi – who presently works as a project manager at Infocomm and Organisation Excellence at SMRT according to her LinkedIn profile – also alleged that people who complain about train issues are likely not Singaporeans.
This is particularly interesting since Devi’s LinkedIn profile shows that she studied at the Ghousia College Of Engineering and the National Institute of Information Technology – colleges from India. This means that she is likely a newer citizen, if she is a citizen of Singapore at all.
Devi’s post comes after an independent research survey conducted by market research firm Blackbox that shows that 65 percent of Singaporeans do not think the MRT system is run well.
Devi has since deleted or made her inflammatory post private. View screenshots of her original post here:
continue reading here :
http://www.theindependent.sg/smrt-pr...to-terrorists/
Seriously do you know what is the meaning of terrorist ? Try putting yourself in ours shoes whenever there is a breakdown in mrt services . Then you will know how frustrated and angry with us . On top got 38 commuters got injured. With Singapore government backing your company we expect SMRT to provide us with tip top service that can us to our destination on time and safely . Is that too much to ask for ?
Taxpayers to pay part of cost of additional buses deployed for train network closures
PUBLISHED 2 HOURS AGO
Christopher Tan Senior Transport Correspondent
SINGAPORE - Taxpayers and rail operator SMRT will pick up the tab for additional buses rolled out to ferry commuters displaced by shorter hours on the East-West MRT line for the next seven months.
“LTA and SMRT will also share in the costs of operating these additional bus services,” the Land Transport Authority, a statutory board under the Transport Ministry, said in response to queries from The Straits Times.
The same goes for shuttle bus services between Joo Koon and Gul Circle MRT stations which will remain in place till at least next June to serve commuters while train service between the two stations is suspended.
The authority announced this week that 17 East-West Line and two North-South Line stations will have shorter service hours from Dec 8 to Dec 31, and that these stations will remain closed for the whole day on Dec 10 and 17.
Other sections of the line will also experience these shortened service times to allow resignalling work to be completed by June instead of the original December 2018 timeline.
SBS Transit will be roped in to provide the additional buses, and private third-party bus operators are also expected to be called on as well.
But experts and industry players said it will be a challenge to provide enough buses to cope with the displaced train capacity.
A senior manager of a bus operator who declined to be named said: “We may have some excess capacity at night, but in the morning, it will be quite tough. Even on Sundays, the trains are quite full.
“And if the bus services are not done well, there will be complaints.”
National University of Singapore transport lecturer Lee Der-Horng said: “During peak hours, one full-load train can have as many as 1,600 passengers, and it is two minutes per train.
continue reading here :
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapor...twork-closures
PAP should be the one who pay and not the taxpayers . In the first place did the PAP ask the taxpayer for permission to use the money to buy over the assets of a private company ???
Do commuters need to be informed about short public transport delays via social media?
By Monica Kotwani @MKotwaniCNA
24 Nov 2017 06:01PM (Updated: 24 Nov 2017 06:10PM)
SINGAPORE: On Nov 14, Twitter user @jookuang was one of many commuters who took to the social media site to tweet about a delay on the North South Line. Tweets from commuters highlighted an additional travelling time of between 10 and 15 minutes.
Media reports also carried news about the delay, saying stations had announced a train fault near Toa Payoh station. However, on train operator SMRT’s Twitter page, there was no corresponding information.
Indeed, @jookiang signed off his tweet by saying train operator SMRT “has yet to tweet about this”.
SMRT’s Twitter page also gave no indication of the delay on Wednesday (Nov 22), when commuters on the East-West Line said there were announcements on the platform of a track fault near Clementi, and to expect an additional 10 minutes of travel to Jurong.
The two incidents were among a number of disruptions in November that were not highlighted by SMRT on its Twitter feed, prompting criticism from some commuters about the lack of real-time information.
A check by Channel NewsAsia revealed about five incidents during the month involving train delays or track faults that were highlighted by commuters and reported by the media, but not announced on SMRT’s social media platforms.
Where it would regularly provide real-time information to commuters on Twitter to add a 10 or 15-minute travel time to their journey in the past, its Tweets for the month before the train collision at Joo Koon station appeared to mostly inform commuters if there was a need to add 20 minutes or more to one’s travel time.
Channel NewsAsia has reached out to SMRT to check if there has been an active change in its social media policy.
Meanwhile, transport experts are divided on whether there is a need for public transport operators to be more proactive about informing commuters even if delays are relatively short.
For Dr Lee Der Horng, a transport researcher at the National University of Singapore, even a 10-minute addition to travel time as a result of a disruption should be shared.
“The issue now is that there is a gap between the engineering announcements, say for example five minute, ten minute (delay) and the commuters’ perceptions,” Dr Lee said.
“You might say it’s 10 minutes, but the commuter may be experiencing a 20-minute addition to travel time.”
Dr Lee said that’s because it depends where the commuter is, and where the service disruption occurs. If the commuter is at the same station as the disruption, it may be accurate to count it as a 10-minute delay.
“But the service disruption is not only at the point but also along the line,” he said.
Read more at
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...nsport-9432952
Of course need to inform . We can make alternative arrangements . By not announcing train delays they are trying to hide something . Why can’t SMRT be honest and upfront to your commuters ??? So you still want to vote for PAP ???
Glossing over mistakes and sweeping them under the carpet does not solve the problem
Published on 2017-11-24 by Ghui
by Ghui
In a somewhat bemusing interview, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan has given a statement following the latest debacle that has hit the nation’s Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) after a string of fiascos.
If the Joo Koon collision had been a once off incident, the public might have been more forgiving. Unfortunately, this accident is just one of the many that has plagued the MRT in the past few years. From numerous delays, to deaths and floods, this collision is just yet another mishap.
Yet despite these misfortunes, the powers be appear to modulate the incident in a number of ways.
First off was the joint statement issued by the LTA and SMRT whereby they tried to pass the collision off as a mere matter of trains “coming into contact”.
Next, we had Minister of Law and Home Affairs, K Shanmugam attempting to soften the accident by heaping irrelevant praise on Minister Khaw’s past achievements in another government department and focusing on the difficulty level of the job which appears to serve as a tactic of distraction.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also joined the fray by once again expressing his confidence in the beleaguered Minister Khaw.
Then we have the man of the moment himself, giving an interview whereby he has tried to put on a brave face. Honestly, I don’t doubt Mr Khaw’s good intentions but is that enough for him to continue in a job where he has now been inextricably linked to failure?
Minister Khaw said a number of things in the above interview that troubled me.
Firstly, he said that he would give himself four years to do the job. Given that he is part of a democratic system, it is disturbing that he considers himself, a public servant, as having the right to set his own timelines? He is accountable to the public and it is the public that is paying his salary!
I wonder if that is part of the problem – that those in the power see themselves as being able to dictate how long the public should have confidence in them for?
Secondly, he expressed that while it was regrettable that the incident occurred, he was back to the “same old job”. Really? I would think that he should do something that is very far from the “same old job”. Clearly the “same old job” has led to a whole series of problems!
He also appeared to suggest that while it was unfortunate that the collision took place, we should “get on with it” and move on. I disagree vehemently with this sentiment. It is not for him to unilaterally decide that we should just get on with it.
This incident (one of many) has affected thousands of tax paying Singaporeans. We need to know exactly what is going on before we can decide if we can move forward or not. Glossing over mistakes and sweeping them under the carpet does not solve the problem. It has barely been a week after this unfortunate incident, should there not be more questions asked before instructing us to move on? It is no wonder that Singaporeans do not at all buy it.
Lastly, he stated that he was confident and that good progress has been made. I truly found it shocking that he could say that so soon after yet another problem with the MRT. Sorry Minister, it isn’t progress just because you insist that it is so.
continue reading here :
LTA, SMRT to bear cost of additional buses deployed for train network closures
PUBLISHED 6 HOURS AGO
Christopher Tan Senior Transport Correspondent
SINGAPORE - A large fleet of additional buses will be required to ferry commuters left in the lurch by shorter hours on the East-West MRT line, and the cost of this operation will be borne by taxpayers and rail operator SMRT.
“LTA and SMRT will share in the costs of operating these additional bus services,” the Land Transport Authority, a statutory board under the Transport Ministry, said in response to queries from The Straits Times on Friday (Nov 24).
The same goes for shuttle bus services between Joo Koon and Gul Circle stations which will remain in place till at least June next year to serve commuters while train service between the two stations is suspended.
Buses bridging Joo Koon and Gul Circle are free, but those plying along the 19 other stations affected by shorter hours will charge equivalent train fares for the distance.
The authority announced this week that 17 East-West Line and two North-South Line stations will have shorter service hours from Dec 8 to Dec 31, and that these stations will remain closed for the whole day on Dec 10 and Dec 17.
Other sections of the line will also experience these shortened service times to allow resignalling work to be completed by June instead of the original December 2018 timeline.
The rush to get the new signalling system up on the East-West Line comes after a train collision on Nov 15. Investigations point to compatibility issues between the old and new signalling systems.
The authorities have decided to separate the two systems – and thus sections of the line – to prevent further incidents.
To cope with displaced commuters, SBS Transit will be roped in to provide additional buses, and private bus operators are also expected to be called on as well.
But experts and industry players said it will be a challenge to provide enough buses and these could also contribute to road congestion.
A senior manager of a bus operator who declined to be named said: “We may have some excess capacity at night, but in the morning, it will be quite tough. Even on Sundays, the trains are quite full. And if the bus services are not done well, there will be complaints. There will also be increased congestion on the road.”
National University of Singapore transport lecturer Lee Der-Horng said: “During peak hours, one full-load train can have as many as 1,600 passengers, and it is two minutes per train. So an hourly load can hit 48,000. You need more than 500 buses, and that’s only for one direction.”
Professor Lee said the volume will be lower for an isolated section of the line, and over weekends, but it will still be significant.
Singapore University of Social Sciences economist Walter Theseira expects “less travel demand than normal because commuters are likely to consider alternate routes or cancel their travel plans due to concerns about potential delays”.
Both experts feel signalling provider Thales should share the cost of the bus contingency plans, which are expected to cost $300,000 a month. “Thales, if it caused the disruption, should provide some goodwill contribution towards the cost to show they accept responsibility,” Dr Theseira said.
continue reading here :
SMRT has lost the ability to communicate with the public
Besides losing the ability to transport the public.
By Belmont Lay |Sulaiman Daud | 5 hours
In the information age, communications is key. Especially so for a public-facing company such as SMRT.
However, in the last few months, it has become increasingly clear the public transport operator has ceded communications ground to everyone else.
This means SMRT has lost its ability to control its messages at a time when it can ill-afford to lose the ability to communicate with the public as it seeks to restore confidence.
The following examples will demonstrate how that happened.
SMRT’s over-reliance on one key message: Don’t begrudge ground staff
To take the heat off itself in the wake of delays and problems — on top of impending closures and some more major inconveniences in the future — SMRT has been seeking public empathy.
This is carried out consistently by emphasising the tireless workers on the ground who are doing their best to get the train system up and running.
As a sign of gratitude, this following post about a commuter’s words of encouragement for SMRT to press on was put up on Nov. 24 by SMRT:
The message is clear: Commuter stands in solidarity with the staff.
But the main issue with such a post is that, firstly, it comes from SMRT itself, and secondly, right-minded commuters who form the majority of commuters, do not begrudge the work done by the blue-collared workers on the ground.
And then there is the issue of authenticity.
Such messages must stem organically from the ground by commuters on their own Facebook pages to emphasise real everyday people are empathetic.
For SMRT to amplify such a message on their own platform is just not convincing.
Rather unfortunately, due to a recent admission that about one in 10 staff are not pulling their weight in SMRT, according to CEO Desmond Kuek at a press conference after it was found that staff had possibly falsified maintenance records, the perceived indefatigable nature of SMRT workers is also somewhat blunted — ironically, by SMRT itself.
continue reading here :
https://mothership.sg/2017/11/smrt-c...ublic-problem/
Like that how you expect the commuters to trust SMRT and PAP ??? Why doesn’t the PAP government want to set up an independent committee of inquiry to solve all these problems once and for all before the next serious incident ? What have they got to hide ?
SMRT flamed for posting supposed “ownself praise ownself” Facebook post
November 27, 2017
SMRT has drawn flak from netizens for uploading the following post on its official social media page last Thursday. The post includes a message that is allegedly from a commuter, encouraging the transport operator during a time when the organisation is under immense fire for persistently alarming train issues.
Here is SMRT’s full Facebook post:
“It is heart-warming to receive this encouraging note from one of our commuters. This means a lot to us, especially for our staff who work tirelessly day and night to keep the system running despite the challenges. Rallying behind our staff to press on and to do their best.
““Just want to encourage u all 🙂 i know it has been very hard time during these few months due to train fault, signal problem and accident etc. Some ppl might feel unhappy due to delay of their journey or stuck in stuffy train. But, i would like to gv u a great hug and wish u stay strong, problem will be solved sooner or later, and i believe ur team are trying the best to solve all the problems! Don’t be sad about the complaints, cuz this is human being when encountered some negative situation affected their routine life. Treat these complaints as energy to keep u move on, keep urself calm and cool and think how to solve in on shot, put safety in priority. I believe all of ur team member are trying very hard, struggling how to settle the issue! Thanks for ur effort to trying best to provide the best service to us, must keep urself healthy, so that u can keep ur mind calm and solve the problem! I realized that the train problem occurred when smrt shorten the waiting time from 2-3 mins to 1-2 mins, it might become burden to train especially old train. Give a train and track a break, they might overwork. Hopefully all passenger who are taking mrt also can stand unite, be understanding, smrt team wouldn’t want this happened too. But since it happened, we can encourage them to overcome these hard period 🙂 Stay strong and positive, thank you!!
” – Mrs Lim #SMRT #LetsPressOn“
Interestingly, the supposed message from the commuter cannot be authenticated, since SMRT did not share a screenshot or link the commuter’s original post. Due to this, several netizens have speculated that this message could very well have been written by an SMRT employee themselves.
continue reading here :
http://www.theindependent.sg/smrt-fl...facebook-post/
Why now no public announcement on train delays even by main stream media ???
SMRT to sack, demote staff involved in tunnel flooding case
PUBLISHED 28 MIN AGO
Christopher Tan Senior Transport Correspondent
SINGAPORE - Beleaguered rail operator SMRT will be demoting at least one senior executive and dismissing other managers and staff found to have falsified maintenance records pertaining to an anti-flooding system.
The Straits Times understands that the action stems from a disciplinary inquiry into an unprecedented flooding of train tunnels which crippled a large section of the North-South Line on Oct 7 and 8. The incident affected more than a quarter of a million commuters.
Although investigators have not found out why the pumps and related switches failed - individual components were in proper working order immediately after the incident - they concluded that the crew tasked with maintaining the system had not done so for nearly a year. The system is supposed to be serviced once every quarter.
Instead, the staff had falsified the logs to say that maintenance work had been carried out - apparently with full knowledge of some supervisors.
Just days after the incident, which is estimated to have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in downtime and recovery efforts, SMRT replaced vice-president of maintenance Ng Tek Poo.
Mr Ng, a veteran with SMRT, is expected to be among those facing disciplinary action. Others include managers, and likely, rank-and-file staff.
continue reading here :