Damage caused by Bishan MRT tunnel flooding cost S$2 million: Khaw Boon Wan
By Fann Sim
09 Jan 2018 06:34PM (Updated: 09 Jan 2018 07:23PM)
SINGAPORE: The cost of damage caused by the tunnel flooding between Bishan and Braddell MRT stations last October came up to about S$2 million.
The flood, which occurred on Oct 7 last year after heavy rain, had submerged trackside equipment as well as components installed on the undercarriage of the train that had stalled in the tunnel, said Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan in a written parliamentary reply to Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Leon Perera.
Mr Khaw, who is also Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure, added that the cost was borne by SMRT.
The flood waters, which were up to 1-metre deep and covered 100 metres of tracks in both directions disrupted train services for more than 20 hours for a large section of the North-South Line (NSL).
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Minister Khaw Boon Wan lie: Losses from flooded tunnel borne by SMRT
January 9, 2018
In a written response circulated in Parliament yesterday (Jan 9), Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan lied that S$2 million paid on repairs and replacements to rail equipment after the flooding incident on 7 Oct 2017 was paid for SMRT:
“The cost of repairs and replacements amounted to about $2 million. This was borne by SMRT.”
However, the Minister omitted the fact that SMRT is a state-owned corporation and that losses or profits directly impact returns for Temasek Holdings.
The lying by Minister Khaw Boon Wan is also consistent with another lie told by Senior Minister of State for Finance and Law Indranee Rajah on Monday (Jan 8). Minister Indranee Rajah claimed that the US$422 million fine that Keppel paid is borne by Keppel, when again the returns on investment of the state-owned company is clearly affected.
During the flooding incident, train services running along the North-South Line were down for more than 2 days and affected more than 1 million commuters. Flood waters in the train tunnels were 1m deep and about 200m in total distance. According to investigations, SMRT did not do any maintenance resulting in the water pump system breaking down. SMRT was also found to have forged maintenance records. Only employees were taken to task for the incident while the CEO of SMRT, former army general Desmond Kuek, remains unharmed.
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Joo Koon collision: Train captain, operations ‘did not know’ protective bubble could be deactivated
10 Jan 2018 02:09PM (Updated: 10 Jan 2018 04:21PM)
SINGAPORE: The train captains and operations control centre staff involved in the Joo Koon collision were unaware that that a train’s protective bubble can be deactivated, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said in Parliament on Wednesday (Jan 10).
Authorities had said an abnormal condition on signalling equipment had disabled a feature designed to apply a protective bubble around the affected train.
“The operations control centre staff and the train captains did not know that the protective bubble could be deactivated,” Mr Khaw said.
“Had they been aware of this, the train captain on the second train could have switched from automatic to restricted manual mode to drive the train manually or, as a last resort, engaged the emergency stop button to keep the train from moving.”
Mr Khaw was responding to a question from Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Dennis Tan, who had asked whether personnel could have taken other measures to ensure the second train remained stationary.
The minister reiterated that the train captain was trained by signalling system supplier Thales, which shared the “assumption” that the protective bubble could not be deactivated.
“In hindsight, one can blame the captain, but I don’t,” Mr Khaw stressed. “Because he was mentally not prepared and never trained to react for that kind of scenario.”
If the train captain had switched to manual mode, Mr Khaw added, he would have had the “reaction time” to stop the train.
Mr Khaw compared the incident to a traffic accident his friend had got into. His friend, despite slowing down and checking when approaching a pedestrian crossing, collided with an e-scooter, he said. The e-scooter rider later died.
“As a layman, when you just don’t have reaction time, are you responsible, to what extent are you responsible?” Mr Khaw asked. “At that moment, are you able to respond in time?”
He noted that while 36m – the distance between the first and the second train in the Joo Koon incident – was “not short”, he pointed out that the second train was travelling at 18kmh.
“First, you have to switch from automatic to manual mode, then from manual mode you could have access to the emergency buttons,” Mr Khaw said, referring to what the driver could have done in that situation.
“Based on the logs and review by the experts, they felt that the train operator just could not react in time.”
When Mr Tan asked if the driver could have applied the emergency brakes in automatic mode without the need to switch to manual, Mr Khaw replied that he was not “perfectly sure”.
Read more at
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...t-know-9848436
Really Mr Khaw ? So have you guys don’t enough safety checks om your Thale signalling software or not ? Imagine if the trains had travelled at 10osec per interval during peak hour the collision would have been much worse . So you still want to vote for PAP ?
Bukit Panjang LRT down due to track fault
Published 1 hour ago
Updated 36 min ago
Christopher Tan
Senior Transport Correspondent
Ng Huiwen
SINGAPORE - The Bukit Panjang LRT has broken down again due to a track fault.
Transport operator SMRT said on Twitter at around 2.30pm that free regular and bridging bus services are available at the 14 affected stations.
The 18-year-old Bukit Panjang LRT has been saddled with reliability issues in recent years, partly as it has to contend with undulating terrain and sharp turns. It is Singapore’s third-oldest line after the North-South and East-West MRT lines.
Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said last year that the system was built as an “after-thought” and due to “political pressure”. Mr Khaw also said the 7.8km line was designed in a “masochistic manner”, and likened the ride to a “roller coaster”.
The Land Transport Authority said in December that it would be awarding a contract in early 2018 for the replacement and renewal of other major components and systems of the Bukit Panjang LRT.
On Sept 9 last year, broken rail support brackets on the Bukit Panjang LRT resulted in train services on the entire line being unavailable for about five hours.
continue reading here :
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapor...njang-lrt-down
Such a small system can’t even manage properly . How to manage HSR ? How come Desmond Kuek is still on the job ?
Train service on Bukit Panjang LRT resumes after disruption caused by damaged signal-stop tape
12 Jan 2018 04:21PM (Updated: 12 Jan 2018 06:39PM)
SINGAPORE: Service on the Bukit Panjang LRT resumed at about 6.30pm after a track fault halted services for about four hours on Friday (Jan 12) afternoon.
At about 1.45pm, a signal-stop tape near Keat Hong Station was damaged by a train, SMRT said on Friday (Jan 12). The tape is used to indicate to the driverless train where the train should stop accurately.
SMRT added that the train that caused the damage was withdrawn from service for further checks.
Train service resumed partially at about 6pm, and was fully restored at 6.27pm.
Train services were halted temporarily at 2.26pm for engineering staff to conduct a system-wide check.
Free bus and shuttle bus services were made available by SMRT, who apologised for the inconvenience caused to commuters.
“Our engineering staff are now working to resume the service,” said SMRT.
Read more at
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...uption-9856026
How on earth can a signal-stop tape near Keat Hong Station was damaged by a train ? Is the LRT safe to travel or not ? Still want to vote for PAP ?
Bukit Panjang LRT down for close to 5 hours after train damages trackside equipment
Published 4 hours ago
Updated 21 min ago
Christopher Tan
Senior Transport Correspondent
Ng Huiwen
Raffaella Nathan Charles
SINGAPORE - The Bukit Panjang LRT broke down for almost five hours on Friday afternoon (Jan 12) after a train damaged a signal stop tape near Keat Hong station at 1.45pm.
A signal stop tape is a trackside equipment which determines precisely where and when a train stops at a station.
It is not immediately known how the train was able to hit the equipment, which is always sited well away from the path of travel.
The incident disrupted service on the entire line as workers withdrew the damaged train for inspection, replaced the damaged equipment and checked the network for other damage.
Service resumed at 6.30pm. Free regular and bridging bus services have ended.
In its first tweet at around 2.30pm, operator SMRT said that there was no service on the line because of a track fault. It added that free regular and bridging bus services were available at the 14 affected stations.
At around 3.50pm, it put out an update, saying that a train had damaged a signal stop tape near Keat Hong station at 1.45pm.
SMRT said the damaged train has been withdrawn from service for further checks; and that its engineering team was conducting a systemwide safety check. This is to determine if other parts of the system had been damaged as well.
“Our engineering staff are now working to resume service,” the operator added then. “Free bus and shuttle bus services are available.
“We are sorry for the inconvenience this has caused to BPLRT commuters.”
In another update at 6.05pm, SMRT tweeted that service had resumed partially between Bukit Panjang and Senja. It added that free regular and bridging bus services were still available.
continue reading here :
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapor...njang-lrt-down
How come now LTA don’t fine SMRT ? How Come always SMRT have more service breakdowns than SBS Transit ? How come the PAP government don’t want to set up an Independent committee of Inquiry for all the train service disruptions ?
No train service on parts of Bukit Panjang LRT due to train fault
18 Jan 2018 04:21PM (Updated: 18 Jan 2018 05:04PM)
SINGAPORE: There is no train service on parts of the Bukit Panjang LRT due to a train fault, operator SMRT said on Thursday (Jan 18).
The affected stretch is between Choa Chu Kang and Phoenix stations. Train service on the Bukit Panjang loop is unaffected.
SMRT said in a Facebook post at 4.10pm that their engineering staff were attending to the fault.
Free bus and bridging bus services were activated.
Tweets from commuters showed that the delay started as early as 3.34pm.
One commuter, Lee Shi Min, first said that the train she was taking had not been moving for the past 10 minutes.
At 4.08pm, she sent out another tweet, this time saying that the “LRT broke down” and that SMRT “did not make an announcement”.
Another commuter said he was stuck on the LRT for about 20 minutes in a tweet sent at 3.50pm.
Ms Wong Chooi Yoke, 38, told Channel NewsAsia that when she reached Jelapang station at 3.30pm, there was a train at the platform. But the train did not move, and after 15 minutes of waiting, she decided to exit the station and take a bus instead.
“There was no announcement. I had to call them using the ticket intercom … No free shuttle bus was arranged at the time when I left,” Ms Wong added.
Read more at
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...-train-9872810
No use to complain . You deserve it for voting for PAP . Lrt also cannot solve the problem . How to manage the HSR to Malaysia ? So how Mr Khaw why you and PAP don’t want to set up an Independent committee of Inquiry to look into SMRT train disruptions ?
SMRT’s chief spokesman quits; more management changes on the cards
SMRT’s vice-president of corporate communications Patrick Nathan is now serving out his notice, but has not told his team when his last day is and who will replace him.
PUBLISHED 2 HOURS AGO UPDATED 1 HOUR AGO
Christopher TanSenior Transport Correspondent
SINGAPORE - SMRT’s vice-president of corporate communications Patrick Nathan has resigned from the rail operator.
The Straits Times understands Mr Nathan, 56, is now serving out his notice, but has not told his team when his last day is and who will replace him.
In what is seen as a start of management changes at a company besieged with massive breakdowns, serious safety breaches and questionable work culture, Mr Nathan’s resignation came amid other appointments in SMRT.
From next month, Mr Seah Moon Ming, who replaced Mr Koh Yong Guan as SMRT chairman last July, will become an “active” chairman, with a more hands-on role. Mr Seah will relinquish his role as chief executive of oil and gas company Pavilion Energy at the end of this month.
Mr Seah has appointed corporate communications veteran Elaine Koh, 43, as chief commuter engagement officer. The new role is an industry-first, although part of her responsibilities currently fall within Mr Nathan’s department.
When contacted, Mr Nathan said news of his resignation were “rumours”, but did not refute them.
The former national security specialist joined SMRT in 2011 to head its security and emergency planning department following a vandalism case at its Bishan depot.
Two years later, he was picked to become SMRT chief spokesman after Ms Kalai Natarajan, a public relations veteran, quit the post suddenly after five months in the job.
The public’s call for change at SMRT has become louder since the latest spate of incidents, which included a tunnel flooding that was traced to wilful negligence of maintenance.
Observers are expecting chief executive Desmond Kuek to step down as well.
PeopleWorldwide Consulting’s managing director David Leong said: “The shift of leadership from the CEO to the chairman is obvious.”
But Mr Leong, a human resource expert, said changing leadership may not solve “the engineering issues”.
Singapore University of Social Sciences economist Walter Theseira said: “I think the question is who is the best positioned to effectively lead SMRT into the future. I think current management has made more progress than is visible to the public. But what they clearly have is a credibility deficit with the public, who only sees the outcome and not the work behind the scenes.”
continue reading here :
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapor...pokesman-quits
He can’t even do a simple job of providing correct information to the commuters whenever there was a service disruption . Is Desmond Kuek really stepping down ? I hope someone can verify it . I hope no army generals or navy admirals comes in to replace them . If not will be back to square one.
SMRT’s communications is so confusing, you don’t know for sure if its chief spokesman resigned
SMRT really has communications problem.
By Martino Tan | January 19, 2018
Both The Straits Times and Today reported that Patrick Nathan, SMRT chief spokesman, has resigned from the company.
No confirmation, though
But this was not what the current or former vice-president of corporate communications told ST, because the state of affairs is confusing:
“When contacted, Mr Nathan said news of his resignation were “rumours”, but did not refute them.”
When Today contacted SMRT, its head of corporate marketing and communications said that the company “does not comment on staff movements”.
Mainstream media has “inside sources”
However, both ST and Today understands that Nathan, 56, is currently serving out his notice.
And ST reported that Nathan “has not told his team when his last day is and who will replace him”.
Other company management movements
The ST report also noted that the SMRT chairman has appointed corporate communications veteran Elaine Koh as its chief commuter engagement officer, and that part of her responsibilities currently fall within Nathan’s department.
In November 2017, multiple examples of SMRT’s public communication problem were collated:
Nathan: Former national security specialist
Nathan first joined SMRT as director of security and emergency planning, where he provided strategic perspectives on issues concerning security, contingency planning and crisis management.
Two years later, he became SMRT chief spokesman after a public relations veteran quit the post after just five months on the job.
continue reading here :
https://mothership.sg/2018/01/smrts-...sman-resigned/
So the question is just how credible is the main stream reporting is ? Where is the source of its reporting and no confirmation of when Mr Nathan is leaving ? Is this fake news by the main media stream ?
BPLRT breaks down for second time in one week; train sent to push it out gets stuck as well
January 19, 2018
Services on the Bukit Panjang LRT line broke down for the second time in one week, after train services were disrupted for 5 hours last Friday when a train crashed into and damaged a “signal stop tape” near Keat Hong station.
Today, a train broke down between Choa Chu Kang and Phoenix stations. Unfortunately, the train that was sent to assist and push the faulty train out became stuck, as well.
At 4.10pm, SMRT announced that would be no train services from Choa Chu Kang to Phoenix station due to a train fault.
35 minutes later, at 4.45pm, the transport operator announced that the fault had been fixed and that train services would resume as per normal.
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