SINGAPORE: Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) and rail operators SMRT and SBS Transit will form a task force to develop and implement immediate solutions aimed at improving rail reliability and joint responses to service disruptions.
There have been at least 15 incidents of service disruptions and delays across the MRT and LRT networks since July.
LTA chief executive Ng Lang will chair the Rail Reliability Taskforce and include SMRT Group chief executive officer (CEO) Ngien Hoon Ping, SBS Transit Group CEO Jeffrey Sim, and technical specialists drawn from across the rail sector.
“The taskforce will report its findings regularly to the Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow and submit its final recommendations by the end of the year,” LTA, SMRT, and SBS Transit said in a joint statement yesterday.
They will review recent incidents to identify components involved that are approaching end-of-life and require replacement, upgrading or increased maintenance.
The task force will also jointly conduct full technical audits of the maintenance and operations of critical systems, which include a review of asset conditions, maintenance processes, operational and redundancy procedures, as well as staff training and competency.
Additionally, the task force will review service recovery processes, procedures to speed up service recovery, and training regimes.
The Singapore government had earlier allocated an additional S$1 billion over the next five years to strengthen rail capabilities, scale up technology adoption, and support skills upgrading for rail workers.
Meanwhile, Siow said that he had asked LTA to share more information with the public on these incidents.
“I separately have tasked LTA to work together with the train operators to speed up asset upgrades, conduct joint technical audits on the critical parts of the rail system, and improve service recovery procedures,” he posted on Facebook. – BERNAMA
